the alley

Sewing Projects

2009-11-04T20:55:00.001-08:00

Over the last few months I've done a few random sewing projects.
Here are some pics:

I also made her "Scary Monster" costume. See the pics below!

Halloween!!!

2009-11-04T18:03:00.000-08:00

Ellie was a "scary monster" for Halloween because she makes a great growl/roar "raghhh" when you ask her "what does a scary monster say?"

Our church does a great "Trunk or Treat" ministry that we went to. Ellie's favorite thing was a toddler size bounce house that she got to play in. It was so busy and crazy there that we forgot to take any pictures! Oh well - at least we got some before we left the house!

Walking across the street with Grammie to get a treat! She was afraid of our neighbor at first - she thought we were leaving her with him! She warmed up when he gave her candy though....I guess there's a reason we teach kids not to take candy from strangers!!!!

Caitlyn (SuperGirl) and Ellie.

Ben (The Mad Hatter), Scary Monster, and Jon (Edward the Vampire)

Click the picture below to see the whole album:

Halloween 2009

First Birthday!

2009-11-03T18:28:00.000-08:00

For Ellie's first birthday, we went to the Ruffino's ranch. They have a really cool place with lots of animals and most importantly (in a Texas August) a POOL!!!
The kids had a great time swimming before, during and after dinner!

Emma

Annabelle

Ethan and Uncle Josh

Opening presents! She was pretty good at ripping through the paper. (Naturally, she loves making a mess)

Daddy trying to get Ellie's new doll out of the box. Why do they have to make it so difficult?!?!?!

A talking book. Definitely one of the hit presents! (Thanks Bobbie and PawPaw Kell!)

The Birthday Girl

Aunt Anna made custom overalls for Ellie's birthday. They are so cute! The little girl on the front is Anna's original character, Zuzu.

Still carrying the talking book....

Kisses for Gramma V!

Birthday Cupcakes!!!! I made yellow cupcakes with seriously chocolate frosting and hot pink sprinkles - they were delicious! I got the recipe from the book "Cupcakes from The Cake Mix Doctor" They were called "The Best Birthday Cupcakes" - and they were!

Who needs hands?

slowly making progress....

She totally devoured the cupcake (and we gave her another one - a Pink Lemonade cupcake) and she hasn't had another cupcake since!

Click below to see all the pictures from her party:

Ellie's 1st birthday!

Thanks for coming, everyone!

It's been way too long....

2009-10-29T08:39:00.001-07:00

So much has happened since my last post! The summer was so busy I never got a chance to post anything new. We took so many pictures, but I'll try to get some of them on here.

Here's a slideshow of Ellie's birthday celebration at Mimi and PaPa's house before they moved to NJ (we miss you!!!)

Click below to watch a few short videos:

movies

Ellie's First Art Project!

2009-05-28T11:29:00.000-07:00

Ellie made her first cards for Mother's day!
I drew a black body in the center of a piece of cardstock, then I folded half the paper back and taped it to her highchair. I put two dollops of tempera paint on the paper and let her smear it around to make the butterfly wings.

I don't know why, but I didn't take any pictures of the finished projects! I'll try to track them down and get a picture. They were so cute and she had a blast making a mess.
I just hope she didn't eat too much paint!

Miscellaneous

2009-05-25T11:15:00.000-07:00

Here are some random pictures from the last few months:

My blow-dryer is one of Ellie's favorite things to chew on....a cord and a huge tag! What could be better?!?!

This was Ellie's first bath without her bath ring. She had figured out how to get out of it, so I decided it was pretty useless now.

We don't usually let her crawl on the kitchen floor, so she's very excited when she gets to be in there!

Easter

2009-05-12T13:27:00.001-07:00

on Easter Sunday, we went to Mimi and PaPa's house for lunch after church.

We hid eggs for Caitlyn to find, and in the evening a friend of Melissa's came over with her 11 month old. The Babies had fun shaking the eggs that had candy in them.

Ellie and Mackenzie

Caitlyn hunting for eggs

Found one!

Mimi, Ellie, PaPa and Caitlyn

Ellie, PaPa and Caitlyn

Ellie and PaPa

Texoma

2009-05-08T12:37:00.000-07:00

A while back, we went to Lake Texoma for the weekend. My grandfather had a suite out there and my mom and brothers were there.

We went hiking around a little bit. I have no idea what lake that is!

Daddy, Mama, and Ellie

Grammie and Ellie

Ellie eating a rock....of course

Ellie STILL eating a rock...(should we have taken that away from her?) =)

Ellie

Mama and Ellie

Mama and Ellie

Daddy and Ellie

Ben

Our family

bathtime!

Hi!

Pippy Longstocking!

2009-04-16T09:23:00.000-07:00

There's a new baby at the Ruffino's:

Pippy Longstocking!

We took Ellie out to see her - she couldn't get enough!
She loves all things soft and fuzzy and this was no exception!
Grammie was holding her and when ever Pippy moved too far away Ellie started whining!
I guess horse-crazy starts young!

She's Crawling!!!

2009-04-14T15:23:00.000-07:00

It's old news now, but on March 19th - Ellie started crawling!!! She'd been scooting pretty well and then all of a sudden she just started! I never even noticed her trying! She was playing with Grammie's keys - one of her favorite toys!

These videos were taken that night, right when I noticed. Looking at them now makes me laugh because you can't even really tell she's crawling. We were so proud ;)

Nap Time

2009-04-13T15:51:00.000-07:00

Caitlyn and Ellie fell asleep in the car together. Caitlyn was using Ellie's carseat as a pillow. Very sweet!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

2009-03-17T07:45:00.000-07:00

Today she's my little leprechaun!

I made Ellie a new bow for the occasion - even though we're not doing anything special!

Random Pictures

2009-03-16T07:34:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from the last week:

This is not where I left her! She was chasing her pacifier and made it all the way under her swing!

Grammie bought Ellie some teething biscuits and she loves them!

They make such a huge mess!

If you take it away from her beware! She screams!!

Naptime. She loves her fuzzy friends! This sweet lamb is from Great-Grandma Doris

The weekend...

2009-03-15T07:29:00.000-07:00

I went to a baby shower on Saturday and I stenciled a few onesies for the new baby boy:

Growing!

2009-03-12T10:57:00.000-07:00

Look how much she's grown!!

7 days....

...11 weeks.....

...and 5 months!!!

It's still so crazy to me how much she has grown in 6 months!

Hopefully I'll remember to take another picture in about a month or so...she's going to outgrow this 9-12 months onesie soon!

A Trip to the Creek

2009-03-12T07:00:00.000-07:00

One day in February we took a walk to the creek. It was very warm that day, so I let Ellie splash in the water a little bit. She had so much fun!

Ellie's first mud!

What happened to her right foot?!?!?!

Look at her fat ankles!!!!

Our Little Island Girl

Phone Pics

2009-03-11T13:34:00.000-07:00

Here are a BUNCH of pictures! Some old, some new. They're all from my phone, so the easiest way to put them on here is in a slide show. Just click play to view!

Dedication

2009-03-11T11:12:00.000-07:00

On February 8th, we had Ellie dedicated at Church. Melissa also had Caitlyn dedicated at the same time. It was very special. Ellie cooperated pretty well - I don't think she made a peep!

Some of our family members were able to come support us for this:

Mimi and PaPa

Grandad

Gramma V and Pop

Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Emily

Thanks for coming everybody!

Grammy and Papa wish they could have been there too, but there was a miscommunication on my part about the scheduling. We were so sad they missed it.

WAY Over-Due!!

2009-03-06T14:20:00.000-08:00

I haven't been able to post in a long time! Ellie isn't crawling yet, but she's a wiggle-worm and wants to go and do things constantly! She's also very strong willed for being only 6 months old....I'm thinking this might be a problem....

She learned how to sit up at 5 months, around the end of January, and she hasn't looked back! She now tries to pull up and stand with anything around her.

January

She was sitting in this laundry basket...she was leaning over the side trying to get to my shoes! She actually landed right on the shoes, but I had already moved them before I thought to take a picture

Ellie's first bath with her new bath ring.

Her toes are like extra fingers!

We do this a lot. She loves to snuggle and takes longer naps if I just hold her.

Ellie loves baby cereal. She always grabs the spoon and the bowl.

Learning to sit up with the help of the boppy

February

TUB TIME!!! Caitlyn and Ellie

Ellie loves any kind of water. She was thrilled to have company!

Daddy and Ellie taking a nap

Mommy and Ellie. She kept burying her head in my side like she wanted to snuggle. Very sweet.

Poop explosion! It was everywhere! I had to carry her - jumper and all - to the bath tub and hose her off. Gross!

This is how I left her...

...This is what I saw when I came back in the room....

...And then...

...She stood up!

Ellie, Jeremy, and Caitlyn. They all had pink on, so I had to get a picture. So cute!

Sweet baby

Ellie's first corn-cob. She wasn't very interested in it, though.

March 5th- It was almost 85 degrees!

I let Ellie play in an inch of water in this laundry basket while I hung the clothes out on the line.

She loves splashing!

I have more pictures that I'll try to post after I get them off of our phones. We take a lot of pictures that way because we always have a phone with us. She constantly surprises me with the newest thing she has learned to do. I'll try to post more soon!

I think she'll be crawling soon...which I'm a little worried about! Our house isn't exactly baby-proof! She gets up on her hands and knees a little bit and she's starting to rock. She already scoots pretty well, too. The next thing I know she'll be walking!

Christmas!

2009-01-30T11:48:00.000-08:00

We went to Arkansas before Christmas and we took a few pictures =)

We went to the Kells (Greg's grandparent's):

Ellie with PawPaw Kell

Barbara and Ellie

Stacy and Barbara playing with Ellie on the floor

Ellie was pretty entertained by everyone watching her!

Ellie

We went to the Hurd's for the Wagher family's Christmas Exchange....there are so many of us now, it gets pretty crazy!

This is my cousin, Owen, opening the gift that I made him (it was technically from Ellie). He was so cute! The blonde head on the right is my nephew, Ethan. The blonde in the blue cape below is my cousin, Spencer (Owen's older brother). They all look so much alike and are about the same age and size...it was a little confusing at times!

My Grandpa and Marion gave all the little girls in the family these crazy dolls! Each one was a different color, I think the others were blue, purple, red.... Ellie loved the bright green!
(We just discovered yesterday that she sings "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" if you squeeze her belly...it only took us a month to figure that out!)

Spencer was so excited to meet Ellie. His mom shows him pictures of her from the blog and he couldn't wait to hold her! He was so sweet!!!

We also went to the Bolin's (another set of Greg's grandparents):

PawPaw Bolin and Ellie- They gave Ellie this great orange ball. It has big holes in it and it's perfect for her tiny hands to hold!

Pat Bolin and Ellie

New York City!!!

2009-01-19T17:11:00.000-08:00

For our Christmas present this year, Jamie (Greg's mom) and Tom flew the family to New York! Tom has been living and working there for almost a year now, so we don't get to see him very often. The family consists of: Jamie and Tom, Diana, Autumn, & Meredith (Tom's girls), Melissa and Caitlyn, and Greg, me and Ellie. Plus, Diana brought along a friend, Mandi. We were definitely a crowd! Tom rents a room from a great couple in Hamilton, New Jersey and they agreed to let us all stay there! (I'm not sure what they were thinking!!!) They were so generous and we had a great time!

Here are some pics (We took almost 250, so these are just the highlights!)

DFW Airport:

On The Plane:

^^Caitlyn

Melissa and Ellie^^

^^Newark Train Station^^

Mimi and Ellie...we had to wait awhile for our train, so we all went inside the tiny waiting area. I think we ran outside trying to catch a train 4 or 5 times before the right train arrived!

Thanksgiving Day!

We spent Thursday in the city. We went to the Macy's Thankgiving Day Parade! It was really amazing...long... and chilly!

Greg, Melissa and Ellie on the train to Penn Station in the wee small hours of the morning =)

Ellie was passed out on the train! We didn't want her to be cold...she had on three layers!

The view from Tom's office in the McGraw/Hill Tower. I think that's looking down on 5th avenue...

Right outside Tom's office....Madison Square Garden!

on the way to our Parade spot...we walked about 15 blocks down 5th avenue and somehow ended up at Times Square

I thought we arrived with plenty of time to spare before the parade started...this was the crowd that was ahead of us! We stopped next to a HUGE Toys 'R Us store and we were right across the street from the Hard Rock Cafe.

This is the crowd that formed behind us!

Meredith and Autumn

Mommy and Ellie - I'm pretty sure this was the only part of the parade she was awake for - and it hadn't even started yet.

Daddy and Ellie:

Melissa and Caitlyn:

Autumn, Greg and Meredith:

The Floats: They were so much bigger than I imagined!

Shrek!

Horton!

Kermit!

Buzz!

Snoopy!

Smurf!

Friday, we stayed at the house and ate our Thanksgiving dinner. That night, we went to a broadway show! Mary Poppins!!! The show was so amazing! Ellie could have been more cooperative though...she started crying as soon as the show started and I missed most of the first half =( We happened to have seats next to a very kind couple who had girls sitting up in a pair of box seats. They agreed to switch seats with us during intermission so that we could be more secluded. I was able to stand and hold Ellie, and she cooperated a little better during the second half. The seats weren't that great (we could only see about half of the stage because we were so far to the left side!), but at least I got to hear all of it and see most of it!

She has a Tutu that goes with this outfit...but it came off pretty quickly!

Saturday: Liberty Island and Limo Rides and Horse-drawn Carriages!!

The view of New York from Liberty Island! Beautiful! We were there right as the sun was setting and it lit up the city so beautifully.

Lady Liberty^^It was very neat to read and learn about the history of The Statue of Liberty. We all had audio-tours and we enjoyed it a ton!

After Liberty Island, we took a Limo (it was cheaper than a taxi for 11 people!) to Little Italy for dinner. Dinner was delicious and afterwards we took another Limo to FAO Shwartz!

The store was enormous and I wish we had more time to look around. We only had about 10 minutes because they were closing. I would definitely love to go back if we ever get a chance!

After the toy store, we took a Carriage Ride around Central Park. It was chilly, but beautiful.

Pics from down-time at the house back in NJ:

Mimi bought this adorable outfit for Ellie from the Life Is Good store in Princeton. It's one of my favorite outfits on her!

Sony (our host) took these adorable pictures of her - She's so cute!

A coworker of Tom's lent us this swing and a stroller. It was so nice to have! She took naps so well in it!

We played Pictionary Man - it was so much fun!
It's a new version of Pictionary that uses a little plastic man, a cylinder and a rectangle to draw on and use as props. It's a great combination of pictionary and charades!

Caitlyn is always so sweet with Ellie. She liked to talk to Ellie while she was swinging.

To see ALL of our pics, click on this slide-show:

Miscellaneous Pictures

2008-11-17T12:25:00.000-08:00

These are truly random pictures! They were all taken with mine or Greg's phone, and I finally got them onto my computer!

I think this was the last picture of me pregnant. I think it was Thursday night, August 21st and she was born on the 26th!

Ellie and Grammie - The first day home from the hospital.

Ellie was a tiny bit jaundice, so Grammie took her outside into the sun. She totally relaxed and went limp - she loved it!

on the boppy

I was trying to type a paper and Elyse was really fussy! So I put her in the sling so that I could keep writing. It wasn't very comfortable, but it worked!

hangin' out in the bumbo chair

aunt mellie and ellie =)

spit bubbles!

This is my favorite picture of Ellie! She was almost 4 weeks old

Aunt Anna and Ellie in Sunday School

HALLOWEEN!

2008-11-17T11:49:00.000-08:00

Finally!

Here are our Halloween pictures.

Josh and some of his friends wanted to go Trick-or-Treating, so we thought we'd join them.

Afterward, they all came to our house and played poker with their candy.

The Group: (from left to right)

Charis (with the camera) "hippie midwife"

Lydia - "tree hugger"

Andrew - I have no idea what he was supposed to be - but it was funny!

Mark - "rock climer"

Josh - "Partly cloudy with a chance of rain..."

Joshua O. - once again, no idea

They had a few others join them later, but I don't have pictures.

Ellie and I went as a butterfly.

Ellie is the body of the butterfly and I wore the wings.

Lydia took a few more pictures, but I don't have them yet.

Greg went as a mountain-man....I think

We didn't stay very long, though, because we decided we were MUCH too old for Trick-or-Treating! Instead, we went to walmart to get some candy to pass out back at the house. The only candy left on the shelves was Hannah Montana candy-bracelets!

I think we only had 3 Trick-or-Treaters though. I guess we got back too late.

Oh Well. We'll know better next time.

Pumpkins!

On the morning of the 31st, we went to Farmer's Market hoping to find good deals on pumpkins. We took a few pictures there, too.

Our Family's First Halloween =)

Papa and Lauren Elyse

I'm not sure why Ben had pink hair...but I kind of like it!

Caitlyn!

2008-11-17T11:27:00.000-08:00

Caitlyn came over and stayed with us on October 25/26. She's so good with the baby!

She loves to talk to Ellie and give her the paci when she fusses.

She came to snuggle with Ellie in the morning and then she tucked her baby doll in next to her:

So cute!

I asked her later what her baby doll's name was and she said:

"I think it's Ellie. Ellie Bolin Bond 2. I don't know. I didn't name her."

She is so funny!

Ellie smelled kinda sour so I decided we needed to give her a bath after she woke.

Caitlyn wanted to take a bath with her, so....

I filled up Ellie's little bath tub, then I filled up the tub around it so Caitlyn had some water!

Growing!

2008-11-17T11:07:00.000-08:00

Look how much she's grown! And these are at least a month old!

We're going to take pictures of Ellie in this big onesie (until she grows out of it!) to see how much she is growing.

This one was taken when she was about 6 days old.

She's so little and scrawny!

I wanted to take the second one when she was one month old, but I forgot.

I think this is closer to 6 or 7 weeks old. It was around October 10th, I think.

Look how much she gained! So much fatter!

I wanted to get one every month, but now here it is November 17th and I still haven't taken another!

I guess they'll just have to be random.

I'm going to try to get one around 3 months...which is almost here!

She'll be 3 months old on the day before Thanksgiving!

Better late than never...

2008-11-05T12:43:00.000-08:00

This is a month late...oh well

On October 7th, we went to the Dallas Arboretum and the Texas State Fair with Grammie, Great-Grandpa and his new bride Marianne.

The Arboretum

We wanted a picture of Elyse snuggled with the pumpkins and gourds.

It took a few tries, but I finally got a good one!

I wanted a picture of Ellie with the "Ellie-phant" ears...

Grammie even let Ellie climb a tree!

Ellie loves the warmth of the sun

The State Fair of Texas!

Ellie loved staring at this massive fan!

Notice the people walking by...that should give you an idea of how BIG this pig is!

There were Egyptian Sand sculptures in honor of the King Tut exhibit that is at the DMA

(the last one is a hippo - I don't know why it came out so dark)

random Ellie pictures

2008-11-04T16:35:00.000-08:00

I don't remember when these were taken but it was sometime in October.

Bath time!

This is one of Ellie's favorite positions^^

Ellie sitting in her bumbo chair. She loves to sit up!

funny faces!

so bald!

bath time with Grammie

This was Elyse's first bath in the kitchen sink =)

bath time with Mommy

asleep in the carseat at Grammie's house.

Wednesdays are hard on us

Uncle Josh. Look at the tiny tennis shoes!

all snuggled in the little bouncy chair on Halloween.

Dress Up!

2008-11-04T16:23:00.000-08:00

On October 5th, we had a big family lunch at Mom's after church. Cindy, Stan and Emily even came from their new house in Fort Worth. Josh, Mark, Lydia, Jeremy and Emily came too!

Lauren Elyse wore her little tiny turquoise dress which made her look extra bald! So we tied a huge white ribbon around her head =)

Great Aunt Cindy

There are tiny little rhinestones on her brown patent leather mary-janes!

I think she's scowling!

Uncle Jon

"Auntie" Lydia

Field Trip!

2008-11-03T10:28:00.000-08:00

While Anna and the kids were here we took a field trip out to the Ruffino's. They have all kinds of exciting animals!

dogs, cats, goats, chickens, horses, donkeys...

Ben, Ethan, Emma and Jon

Ellie's first horse!

Emma, Ethan, Ben and Billy - one of Delinda's many dogs!

Grammie and Lauren Elyse snuggling on the swing

Me and Ellie - hanging out in the chicken and goat pen

This goat really wanted to eat my shirt and Ellie's toes!

Emma on the pony

Emma and Ethan - he wasn't too excited about riding the pony

Me, Anna, Elyse, Elizabeth and Gracie

Anna and Ellie

Jon, Michaella, Anna, Emma, Ethan, Grammie, Ben, Gracie, Elizabeth and Ella

Onesies!

2008-11-02T15:39:00.000-08:00

I wanted to have a onesie decorating party after Ellie was born, but I didn't really know how to organize it. So I decided to wait until Anna was here and let her do it! =) It turned out much better that way -She is the queen of crafty things! We had so much fun!

She taught everyone how to make stencils out of freezer paper and then we used fabric paints to make our designs. It was really easy and everyone came up with great designs!

Greg with Emma and Ellie

Caitlyn was so sweet with Christal's 1-year old Izzy.

Izzy has the bluest eyes!

Here are the onesies that everyone made:

a donut -by Michaella

a funky Halloween cat - by Charis

a dandelion - by Anna

a barrel o' monkeys monkey - by Michaella

a seahorse inspired by Eric Carle - that one was mine!

a smelly Ellie flower - by Melissa

(the flower is painted on the butt of the onesie)

a birthday cupcake - by Christal

sweet little hearts and "ellie" written on the bottom - by Desi

firecrackers - by Melissa

ladybugs - by Caitlyn

(they're her thumbprints!)

a birdie - by Meredith

a peace sign - by Jon

a tank.... - by Mark

an Ultimate jersey (there's a "26" on the back) - by Lydia

diaper pins - by Anna

an elliephant - by Anna

Visitors from Indiana!

2008-11-02T15:25:00.000-08:00

Anna, Emma and Ethan came to visit in September. They flew in on the 11th and surprised Dad for his birthday!

We all went to Grandma V's and Pop's house for lunch on Sunday after church.

Elyse loves to sleep and snuggle with Pop

Emma was always so excited to hold Ellie. She was so sweet with her!

Papa and Ethan with Grandma V's famous Banana Pudding

Pop with Emma and Ethan under the stairs with the stash of toys!

Grandma V and Ethan built a tower of blocks - and then Ethan knocked them over!

Grandma V and Emma

Pop and his great granddaughters =)

Emma was holding Ellie's hand - precious!

Hello World!

2008-11-02T15:16:00.000-08:00

I wanted to take a picture of Ellie when she was one week old to send out as a baby announcement...she wasn't very cooperative during our photo shoot! She was wide awake and kept trying to scoot off the towels!

I tried again at 10 days old. This time I waited until she was asleep - this was much more successful.

I never sent out announcements though. Oh well. I guess everyone will just have to see them on here =)

Mimi, Aunt Mellie and Caitlyn

2008-10-23T08:21:00.000-07:00

Mimi, Aunt Mellie and Caitlyn came over to our house when Ellie was about a week old.

Caitlyn even got to leave school early to come!

Ellie slept almost the entire time - snuggled with Mimi!

Hands always by her face....

Days 1 & 2- In the hospital

2008-10-21T19:01:00.000-07:00

Here are the pictures from our two days in the hospital. Papa was the first one to come see us on Tuesday, but somehow we missed getting a picture of him. I think we caught one of everybody else though =)

Click on the play button to watch the slide show

Greg's Family

2008-10-21T13:42:00.000-07:00

Greg's Dad (Grandad) and his family came to visit the weekend after Ellie was born.

Grandad:

Nana:

Uncle Brandon:

I think Derek was a little nervous to hold Ellie. She started screaming and he quickly turned her over to Nana =)

Uncle Derek:

Caitlyn put make-up on Grandad =)

Ellie's First Week

2008-10-21T13:00:00.000-07:00

Here are a bunch of pictures from Ellie's first week of life. We had lots of visitor:
Grammie; Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Emily; Aunt Melissa and Cousin Caitlyn; "Aunt" Lydia....and lots more!

Click on the play button to watch the slide show

The Room

2008-10-21T08:34:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures of Ellie's room. I knew I didn't want anything babyish for her room, but it took me forever to find what I wanted! I knew I was looking for a modern, large scale floral print in bright colors - I finally found it!

The striped and floral fabric are Michael Miller designs that I fell in love with.

Mimi (Greg's mom) ordered the fabric for us as a shower gift and we finally found the time to use it!

Grammie (my mom) came over to help me make the bedskirt and the curtains.
I wanted the bedskirt to reach almost to the floor in the highest mattress position, so I added a second layer in a solid turquoise underneath the floral.

I made two throw pillows for the guest bed (which is in her room). I put little elephants
(Ellie-phants) with floppy ears on them. They're so cute!

Aunt Melissa gave us her glider, and I recovered it in chocolate brown corduroy and the stripe.

It was kind of difficult, but I'm really proud of it! I've never recovered anything and I did it myself! I just wish I had a before pic!

I still need to make the diaper stacker and make a cushion for the toybox, but that's all that's left. Hopefully I'll get to do that soon!

This is the paper mosaic that I did last spring - it's hanging above her crib.

It's called "Ellie's Garden"

Thanks Mimi and Grammie! We love it!

Finally!

2008-10-10T12:23:00.000-07:00

Well...I was due on August 19 and that day came and went with no sign of Ellie's arrival. I had been having contractions pretty regularly for a few weeks, but they just weren't very strong. I was dilated to 2 cm - for 3 weeks! So...we just kept waiting.

On Friday, August 22, my contractions starting getting stronger and we're 5-10 min apart. I called my doula, Charis, and told her that I thought I was finally in labor! She came over Friday night to wait with us. By Saturday morning, the contractions had lessened (again!). Charis and I decided to go to the mall to walk and try to get the contractions started again - walking was the only thing that ever seemed to help things along. Saturday afternoon the contractions were pretty strong and about 3 min apart while walking - but whenever I stopped they slowed down or disappeared! This went on all weekend!

I went back to the dr's office monday morning and my doctor advised me to take Cytotec to stimulate harder contractions. I took the drugs and Greg and I went to the mall to see a movie and wait for something to happen. A few hours later, I had been having back pain and contractions (again). Halfway through our movie, I felt something weird and I was pretty sure my water had broken! (It's not always like in the movies, most of the time it's just a small amount of fluid - not a huge gush) Just then my phone started ringing - it was the dr's office!

The nurse wanted to know how things were going since I had taken the Cytotec. I told her that I thought my water had broken and asked what we should do. She told us to wait until the contractions were 5 min apart for at least an hour, then call the office back. This was around 2 pm...

We left the mall and decided to go to Half-Price Books to wait for my mom and Charis to come meet us. Josh decided to come too, just 'cause he was bored =) I called the dr back at 3:30ish to tell them that the contractions were 3-5 min apart and had been for an hour and a half. We were now sitting in the cafe at the bookstore, just waiting. I didn't get through to the dr - I left a message with the receptionist. By 5 pm, we were still waiting on the dr to call us back! At 5:30, I got through to the answering service - the office was closed! We finally got a hold of the dr and she told us to come in to see her...again...

As we were about to leave - all of a sudden there was a hollywood worthy whoosh! and I was standing in a puddle in the cafe! (right next to Josh eating a sandwich! sorry Josh!)

We got to the dr's office uneventfully and she sent us to the hospital. I was dilated 3 cm. It was now 7 pm!

We (me, greg, mom, charis, and josh!) checked into the hospital and they asked a million health history questions - not bothering to wait during contractions.

A nurse inserted a hep-loc (IV site). They let me walk around the hallway for 30 minutes at a time. This was a very small loop around the nurses station. The contractions began coming stronger and faster as a walked - now they were about a min apart. With every contraction, my back pain worsened and I needed someone to put pressure on my lower back to lessen the pain.
I think Josh left around 9.

By around 10 pm, I wasn't walking around anymore...I was now dilated to 5 cm. At some point, I started feeling sick and I threw up. Vomiting is not fun under normal circumstances - especially during contractions. I also started shaking - almost like chills, but I definitely wasn't cold!

I think it was around this time that my doctor was concerned that my contractions weren't in the right place and they weren't able to push the baby down into the birth canal. She wanted to give me pitocin to make the contractions harder. I didn't want to have the pitocin, but I knew she was right - nothing new was happening. The put the pitocin into the IV and also started a glucose IV for energy - I was very tired. The nurses had a really hard time getting the pitocin to drip correctly - she kept wiggling the IV trying to change the position! My hand did not appreciate this. (By this time, I think I'm having contractions every minute - at least - it seemed like they never stopped!)

When they started the pitocin, they made me get in the bed so that they could monitor the baby's heart rate and the strength of the contractions. (I had been standing, walking, and sitting on the birth ball until this point). While lying in the bed, the contractions got really bad really fast. At this point, in between every contraction, I told mom, charis and greg that I wanted an epidural. They all knew that I didn't really want one - and so they ignored my request. If was miserable in the bed - even on my side! I was still having bad back labor, and it was too difficult for them to put enough pressure on my lower back during contractions. After about 30 min, the doctor came in to see if I'd progressed - I had - it was now almost 8 cm. I realized that I had to pee, so I got out of bed and took the monitors off. I didn't get back in it. From this point on, I stood, next to the computer so that the monitors could be reconnected. We were practically in the doorway! I don't know how long we stayed there, but it seemed like a long time. At some point the dr came back and said I was finally to 10 cm! Soon after this, I started pushing - still standing in the doorway!

IV>Later, mom and charis both told me that they don't think I got much of the pitocin, if any. They said that the nurse kept wiggling it to get it to drip correctly, but they never saw it drip. I like to think that I didn't get any =)

I don't know how long this part lasted...all I knew is that it was almost over! Eventually, we finally convinced the nurses and the resident doctor that I really was going to have a baby - and soon! They called my doctor at this point and told her to come. I don't know how long it took her to get to the hospital, but when she showed up, she said "why are you standing in the doorway?" She told me I wasn't going to be able to push the baby out unless is got in the bed and leaned backward. I didn't want to but I think I was mostly concerned about finally not being pregnant anymore! I think it only took about 5 minutes for her to be born when I got into the bed. I think she (the doc) said that the baby couldn't turn correctly and descend all the way unless I leaned back. I guess it worked...all I know is that it started to hurt really bad.

I remember my mom saying "there's her head! reach down and touch her head!" and I said "No! I just want her out!" The doctor immediately saw that the cord was wrapped once around her neck, and she quickly unwound it. Everyone said that as soon as her head was out, there was a little hand right up next to it. The pain was less intense at that point, so I did hold her hand. I think she came right out with one more push - and then the pain was gone!!! They handed the baby to me and I don't remember much after that point. I do know that about 5 min after she was born, the doctor said "Do we even know if it's really a girl? Did anybody check?" I think I actually laughed because it hadn't even occured to me (or anyone else) to look! The baby was indeed a girl =)

Lauren Elyse Bolin - "Ellie" - August 26, 2008. 12:49 AM. 6lbs, 11oz, 20 inches

center>I was finally un-pregnant!

The belly!

2008-10-10T09:49:00.000-07:00

We took pictures every week of my growing pregnant belly...It's amazing what 9 months can do!

Here are a few of the pics along the way:

^17 weeks^

^29 Weeks^

^34 weeks ^

^41 weeks! ^

Our Fairy Tale

2007-09-26T10:10:00.000-07:00

Once Upon a Time, in the Land of El Har, there was a Maiden who was in bondage washing dishes night after night. There was also a Prince who spent his days looking after the young children of the Land. The young Prince was told of the beautiful but mistreated Maiden and he longed to free her. He divised a valiant plan to free her from her prison. After her rescue, the Prince was determined to win her love. He spent the next year wooing the beauiful Maiden. At the end of the long year, the Maiden declared her love for the Prince. This began two long years of courtship. After seven hundred and ninety-one days, he asked for her hand in marriage. The fair maiden accepted his proposal. They were married on February 9, 2007.

Maverick and Storm met at Camp El Har in the summer of 2003. Maverick began working as a full-time intern teaching science classes and hosting retreat groups at the camp. The following summer, we both worked at camp again. We started dating on July 1st, 2004.

We were engaged on August 31, 2006. Maverick proposed during a Ranger's Game and we were married on February 9th, 2007.

The Beginning

2007-09-22T10:14:00.000-07:00

This is our first post on our family blog!

We have two dogs,

Brinks & Piper:

Brinks is a Brindle Boxer and we have no idea what Piper is! She was a stray that we rescued and even the vet doesn't know what she is! She's one of the strangest looking dogs I've ever seen! She's much prettier when she perks up her ears, but we don't have any pictures of her like that.