Eliza Lately

Here are a couple of recent pictures of Eliza - for family members who are not on Facebook ;).

These pictures were taken on our trip to Kentucky Lake. We stayed on a houseboat for 4 nights, and Eliza loved it! I was truly amazed at how well she did. One of the best parts was being able to put her down for a nap/bed and not have to worry about leaving. We are looking forward to doing something like this again soon.

Nightly Entertainment

Whoever said newborns are no fun was definitely mistaken :).

Back to Blogging

It's been quite some time since my last post and lots has happened. Here is an abridged version of how our lives have changed since February. I am going to start with a final baby bump photo. I am not sure how many weeks I am here... but I know our baby was born shortly after it was taken.

Jim and I had our baby shower April 14, 2012. It was a lovely shower! I felt so blessed to have so many friends and family members there. A huge thank you to Allie, Brittany, and my mother for planning and hosting the event. My mom took tons of photos on her camera, but here are a couple pictures of my Taylor buddies and me:

If I look slightly uncomfortable in these photos, it may have something to do with the fact that I was actually in labor! I did not get much sleep Friday because I was experiencing contractions all night. Then on Saturday morning, the day of the shower, I told Jim we might need to see the doctor. Around 10 am we left a couple of my friends at our house and told them we are going to see what our doctor thinks and will be back shortly. When we arrived our doctor told us that I was 1cm dilated and 80 % effaced. He said it was possible that I was in labor, but many women walk around 1cm dilated for weeks. Our options were to either go to the birthing center, or go home and see what happens. We obviously opted to go home. I was very excited to be heading home because I certainly did not want to miss out on seeing friends and family who had come from out of town. 

As was mentioned, the shower was fabulous! Thank you again to all of you who were there to help us celebrate. Then... two hours after the shower, the contractions seemed to be getting a little closer together and much more intense. I told Jim it was probably time to go back to the hospital. My mother, queen of the camera, has some great pictures of my face as we left their house. Unfortunately, I do not have them on my computer, but trust me when I say they fully capture the pain I was feeling. We arrived at the birthing center at 7:30 pm and had little Eliza Jean at 2:43 am that Sunday morning. 

Delivery Room 

I'm looking pretty comfortable here so I am guessing this is after getting the epidural: 

A good luck kiss before the pushing starts 

The pain scale

0 = no pain 

10 = worst pain imaginable 

It's a girl!

Meeting Eliza for the first time: 

Tears for both of us: 

7 pounds 4 ounces

Eliza is now 3 weeks old and has changed our lives so much. A family friend wrote in a card to me, "get ready to fall in love for the first time with your new baby, and for the second time with Jim". I feel like this is so true. I can't describe how much love I feel for Eliza. Children are truly a gift from God. While many days I feel unbelievably overwhelmed by how dependent this little person is on me, I am so thankful. I love seeing how much Jim loves her too. He is so protective and proud of his little girl. I am very impressed at how seriously he takes his new role as a dad. 

Thank you so much to our family and friends who have been so supportive and thoughtful. From gifts to meals, we appreciate you all so much! 

February

So far February has been a busy month for Jim and me.  During our free time you can usually find us house hunting. Our little home in Barrington has served us well for our first year of marriage, but our lease ends April 30th and we are moving on. Lord willing, we will purchase a home before the baby arrives early May.  We've seen close to three dozen homes and are still searching. We'll keep you posted on any new developments. 

In other news, Jim had the not-so-fun task of replacing the struts on his car. Instead of paying hundreds of dollars to have them replaced, he took advantage of my very handy father. Jim and Chris had some major "bonding" time as it turned out to be quite the project. Something like a 12 hour project. Turns out Jim's struts were corroded which made removing them tricky. They succeeded in the end, saving us a bunch of money. Thank you dad for helping us out! We owe you big time.

 Working hard

 Even little Lisa helped out

 Other things we've enjoyed this winter are walks with Gracie. Walking is the only form of exercise I get so we try to make it a daily thing. Walking has been a great way to unwind after a long day and discuss baby names. Yes, we are still discussing baby names. Here is Gracie enjoying a weekend stroll:

 I have to brag for a minute about my very thoughtful husband. He made our first Valentine's Day as a married couple a very memorable one. When I came down in the morning he had roses sitting out for me with a very sweet card, yoga mats, and a heating pad. Because of the extra weight, my back has been so sore. When Tylenol isn't enough, a heating pad works wonders. I have also heard that yoga can help and I am willing to try anything. Anyhow, after work he surprised me with a clean house and dinner plans. He showed me how much he loves me by taking us to a vegan Vietnamese place. Jim loves meat so going to a vegan restaurant was a big sacrifice for him :).

Friday and Saturday mornings Jim plays basketball at our church. I get to be the proud wife on Saturdays during the games. This is a picture of him in action... sort of. I was taking pictures with my phone and there is a bit of a delay.

Here is the latest belly bump picture. I am definitely getting bigger. I feel great aside from the sore back. I think I am either 28 or 29 weeks now. I am starting to lose track. I usually just say 6 1/2 months :).

That wraps it up for now. Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying this rather mild Chicago winter!

Baby Bump Update

Jim and I have been really bad about taking pictures of the baby's progress. I was starting to feel guilty because I know I will want to look back on these someday. So, for those of you who are interested, here is a picture of Baby T. and me going on 25 weeks:

Jim was beginning to feel left out so here is a picture of Jim and his "bump":

Doesn't he look good?! I think I have him beat ;).

"Yooperland"

2011 was our 20th trip to Ski Brule. This year, like the ones before, was full of family, friends, fun and games. Unlike previous years, being nearly 5 months pregnant made things a little more interesting for me. The doctor told me I could, "ski at my own risk", but he did not recommend it. No matter how comfortable I may be, you never know who might run into you. That being said, I decided not to snowboard, but ski! I only made it out on the slopes 1 day and took it very easy. I picked a good year to miss out because of the lack of real snow. Snowboarding or not, we had a wonderful time. Couldn't help but think that this time next year... we will have a 7 month old baby with us!

Michael, Laura, Gracie and lots of luggage.

Kenny's truck came in handy on "carload days"

Most of the group

Relaxing at Homestead

20 week baby bump

Our little family

Benson Family Shot - minus Gracie who was obviously not cooperating

After returning from Brule, Jim and I spent the next week hanging out and celebrating Christmas with Jim's family. After a week with 4 nephews and nieces under the age of 3.... we were seriously scared about having this baby. Praise the Lord we are having one at a time ;). Here is a picture of the quickly growing Thomson family: 



We really did have a fabulous time with Jim's family. It was so nice to have everyone together without the stress of a wedding. We hope it can happen again soon!

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. Looking forward to what the Lord has in store for 2012.

Baby T.

Two weeks ago Jim and I went in for our 20 week appointment. We were especially excited about this one because we knew we would get to SEE the baby again! We were not able to get a really good profile shot because the baby was so active while the pictures were being taken. Apparently it's not good to eat Lucky Charms before you go in because the baby reacts to sugar. It was fun to watch on the monitor, but unfortunately made for some unclear shots. Everything looks normal at this point. The baby is developing as it should be. Here are some more pics of the baby- hopefully you are better at deciphering ultrasound pictures than I was :)

Baby flipping: feet are at top and head on bottom

Another flip: you can really see the spine in this one

Little foot:

Jim's brother-in-law pointed out that the baby is "T-Bowing" in the shot. For all the Broncos fans out there...

These 3D shots totally creep me out! If you look hard, you can see the little face!

Skinny little legs (definitely not from my side of the family). This picture doesn't reveal the sex of the baby according the the technician - we want to be surprised.

Little profile shot: