Let's Break This Down

I don't know if anyone will care to read this, but I had a lot of fun going through the calendar to revisit what we've done through the year. It was actually funny to do this because some of the things we did, I almost didn't remember that it was this year!

January: Justin decided to take the plunge and get Lasik. It was pretty funny to watch him on Vallium and wearing "bug shields."

February: Ski trip to Monarch, CO with the Eudeys, the Strouds and Kevin. Such a fun trip and it was over my birthday!! This month marked 26 years for me.

March: Trip to LAS VEGAS!! We went with friends Tim & Krystal. While we were there we also got to visit the Hoover Dam. Las Vegas has become one of our new favorite vacation spots.

April: Officially found out our lives were going to change completely! So excited to find out we were finally pregnant after trying for 16 months. Such a blessing and the start of a new journey.

May: Trip to Chicago, IL for Justin's cousin's wedding. Beautiful bride, beautiful wedding.

June: This was a busy month! Justin turned 28, we had two weddings of good friends, I went to Frisco, TX with my cousins, aunt, mom & sister, and we finished up the month with our annual garage sale!

July: Spent most of the month relaxing from previous month, with a quick trip up to Kansas City to attend the wedding of Justin's high school buddy Drew.

August: We went on our annual Cornell family vacation to the beach! Such a fun, relaxing week. We got to spend some time with our friend Sandy Collins on the way down and then spent the rest of our time soaking up the sun!

September: We went on a weekend trip to Scottsdale, AZ with good friends - Hutchisons and Lovetts. Got to see lots of sights and spend quality time with friends. Loved it!

October: Spent time preparing for our upcoming baby by attending our first childbirth class and we also attended my cousin Andrew's wedding.

November: Almost there - lots of time getting the rest of our "to do" list done before the baby. Had a wonderful shower hosted by awesome friends from church. We also wrapped up Financial Peace University that Justin coordinated for the first time.

December: On the 1st we welcomed Haylie Brooke! It was a wonderful and much anticipated day. This was a month of firsts, but mostly as a new family of three.

Happy New Year! Have a wonderful 2010.

Has it really been 4 weeks?

I don't know whether today marks Haylie's one month of life or just 4 weeks. Isn't it the same, even though she was born on the 1st? Who knows how to count this?

She is super great at celebrating - another really rough morning for Justin and I. She decided that at 4 am she wanted to be really awake and practice holding up her head. No rest for the weary.

I tried to measure the wiggle worm and my measuring tape said 20 inches-ish and we tried to weigh ourselves and I came up with 9 lbs. That sounds a bit much to me...so I think my scale is off...especially when it comes to showing me my weight!!

First big girl bath!

We've had a lot of fun with her so far. It's very tiring to be a new parent, but I wouldn't trade it for the world! I love the sweet times of snuggles, old woman burps in my face, the little grabs of her hands and seeing how she changes every single day! I can't believe it's been a month already. I love my little girl!

Christmas 2009

I'm a horrible mother and didn't take any pictures of Haylie's first Christmas. I guess I did at our family present exchange on Wednesday, but I didn't take any on the actual day. I'm already failing as a mom. Oh well. :)

Haylie trying out her new bumbo chair from Aunt Emily & Uncle Clint!

Grant, Brei & boys were able to come down for Christmas, although with the snow they sat on I-44 for like, 7 hours or something ridiculous like that just 4 miles from the I-35 exit. Justin's parents didn't make it down and we were really sad about that, but Barbara might be able to come down next weekend to see Haylie. Hopefully the weather/roads will be good!

Cornell cousins

Christmas didn't really feel like Christmas this year. Justin and I didn't exchange gifts since we figured our gift was Haylie. We went to my parents house for dinner, but that was kind of stressful (only for me I think) because Haylie decided she wanted to scream practically the entire time we were over there. Not to mention that getting up there was kind of a maze - between all the parked cars that were stranded, it was kind of an interesting time trying to find a way to get through!

It was great to be with family though and was a good first Christmas with our little girl.

Have a Caramel Christmas

I don't know what my title means...anyway...

Caramel is trying to figure out if she likes Haylie. She has been coming around more often and sniffs her whenever I let her get close. Below you can see that I think she finally agreed to let her stay. (Please ignore the random bottom of my face - its hard to take a self portrait!)

Haylie has a few Christmas outfits so I thought we would start them out today. Her shirt says "Who needs Santa, I've got grandparents!" (Courtesy of my mom) SOOO true.


We went to see Nana today in the hospital. This was the first time that they were able to meet so it was a very sweet moment. Haylie did really well and slept the whole time. She should have since she was screaming since early early this morning! :)

Have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

With love from our family to yours.

Faces

We had Peyton come over and take some pictures of Haylie. I felt so bad, Haylie was not the best model. She kept screaming and was not workin' it for the camera. So, we got a lot of these shots :) Actually, Peyton did a really great job and got some good ones that I will have to post after Christmas. Don't want to ruin it for the grandparents, ha! :)

Target Bound

So today I thought I would venture out of my living room cave with a baby by myself. I needed to get some stuff at Target, and I have been procrastinating to do it. Well, today was the day I had to go, so I fed Haylie and bundled her up and off we went to Target. I was so nervous.

Now the four times we have used the carseat, she has fallen asleep. I figured full belly + car ride = naptime. Not so much. She was awake when we went into the store, although she did have her sleepy eyes on.

After shopping for maybe 7 minutes and me whispering over and over, "Please be good," she got a little tired of that and started to scream. Luckily I was getting the last of my items and off we went to checkout. Still screaming. At this point I am sweating a ton. Why couldn't she be asleep??

We escaped with only a few heated stares and made it home. THEN she fell right asleep. Man, no more public places for us for awhile. We might just stick to our living room cave a wee bit longer.

Before & After

Katie, Erin, Chellie & I in "birth order"

Babies in birth order (Chellie & Erin did a little switch!)

Olivia (Katie) - September

Brixton (Chellie) - October

Leisel (Erin) - November

Haylie (Me!) - December

We had a little playdate today and all the babies did REALLY well. It was so nice to have other new moms to talk to about all the issues of becoming a new mother. This might have to become a regular playdate :)

We survived!

I can not believe it but we have survived a week with a newborn! I was a little skeptical at first - especially when Justin left for the weekend and I wasn't sure what to do! But luckily my mom was able to stay with me and the baby for a lot of the time so that was a HUGE blessing!!

To celebrate her being 1 week old, we started off the day in tears. She had a very good night but about 5:20 am, she decided that she wanted to be a cry monster. Which left me in tears since I didn't know what to do. Oh hormones. They are kicking in big time.

Caramel has done pretty good with Haylie. She gets jealous of not getting enough "petting" time and gets skittish when Haylie cries, but for the most part, she is a good kitty.

Pics for your enjoyment!

Haylie Brooke

Leaving Mercy on 12/3/09 around 11 am

Haylie Brooke Cornell - fresh to the world!

Daddy holding daughter

Cousin Eli holding Haylie and Dog the dog watching!

Photo shoot at the hospital

Details of her arrival!

Sunday 11/29/09 - about 8pm the contractions started to come harder and closer together. We decided to time them and about the 5 minute mark, we head to the hospital. After being monitored and not having any progress made, we were allowed to go home (with sleeping pills!)

Monday 11/30/09 - I had contractions all night and all day. About 7 pm, Justin calls to the hospital to see if we can get sleeping pills or something for the contractions. They told us to come in to be monitored since they can't just give out a pill. We go up there thinking we were going to just be told the same thing from the previous night. We basically were - after they called my doctor we were told we could either go home or stay and be monitored through the night and be induced in the morning. At this point I'm still a 3 but am about 85% effaced. We chose to go home since the word "induce" was a bit scary to both of us - we were hesitant about having to end up with a c-section. I was given a double dose of pain meds which didn't even phase my pain and 2 sleeping pills.

Tuesday 12/1/09 - After running by McDonalds for some ice cream and cookies (to work through the contractions of course), went home and had more stronger contractions. I was so sleepy that I would fall asleep immediately but then have to get up to work through the contractions.

2:30 am we decide to go back to the hospital.
6:00 am I get an epidural and get started on pitocin.

8:45 am my doctor comes in to talk to me and to break my water. She says she'll see me later in the afternoon - that's probably how long it will take.

9:15ish am I feel like I need some relief. Another epidural is given at a higher dosage. I am loving this doctor who is numbing me up!

I am checked again pretty soon after that and I am at a 9!! The nurse had been working with me to show me how to push and she tells me to stop everything and calls my doctor to come ASAP! By the time my doctor gets there, I push for about 30 minutes or so and Haylie is born at 10:35 am!!

It all happened so fast that I am surprised I remember a lot of it. I am just SO happy she is finally here!

False Alarm

No baby yet, but we ended up going to the hospital last night about midnight. I was having contractions about 2-5 minutes apart and they were what I thought to be painful. Well, apparently they get worse?! So they checked me at the beginning and I was still a 3. They monitored the contractions and the baby's heartbeat for about 30 minutes and then Justin and I roamed the halls of Mercy for about an hour in my classy grandma looking mumu of a hospital gown. There is absolutely nothing interesting at a hospital late at night. We did go into the NeuroScience hall and got to see the glass dome and big Christmas tree. Whoo. Hoo. And passed by the morgue. That's always joyful. Anyway, we got back to the room and I was checked again and no change. So, they let us go home.

I wasn't about the have the baby before 7 am anyway. My doctor is back in town but wasn't on call - the bad one was. So, I knew I wasn't going to allow Haylie to come until my doctor was able to be there.

On our way home, the nurse gave me an Ambien so I would hopefully be able to sleep through some of the contractions. I took it in the car and Justin told me I wasn't allowed to fall asleep until we got home. On the way though, we get PULLED OVER by a cop. He clocked Justin going 77 on the turnpike - which is 70. Geez. So Justin explained that we were coming home from the hospital and the cop was great and only gave him a warning. Whew. We do not need a ticket at the beginning of this journey.

So, we are optimistic that Haylie will come on her own and the nurse was thinking even today or tomorrow. We shall see!!!

Bittersweet

Tomorrow is my last day of work. At an office, I mean. :) It is very bittersweet and I'm trying to take it all in because it will be a long time until I can "get away to an office" instead of being at home with a baby. But I'm just so dang excited to become a mom that it's not really sinking in that I need to grasp these last few hours. I don't think it helps that Thanksgiving is a day away and I'm super excited to see my family!

At my last doctors appointment (yesterday) I haven't made any new progress so my doctor is thinking Haylie will come next week, closer to my due date. I can't believe my due date is next THURSDAY! When I informed Justin of this, he said he wasn't ready and needed more time. Really? I think we are out of that.

We will keep everyone posted on her arrival and will post pictures and stuff when she's born!!

Rudeness at New Moon

Yesterday I went with a few friends to see New Moon!! Yes, I am over the age of 13 but I still love the Twilight books and of course now the movies as they premiere. We were clever though and went to the Saturday matinee where the percentage of teeny boppers was less than 75%. Such a good movie - much better than the first Twilight in my opinion. The acting was less...awkward. I do think Kristen Stewart as Bella has an eye contact problem and hopes she works on that for the next two.

Anyway, before the movie started, Jessica and I decided to go get some concessions. Jessica headed out to the food court to get the drinks while I waited in line to get the candy. I was waiting in line, not really paying attention to the guy in front of me (deemed Short Man) when all of a sudden I hear, "Where did he go? I've been waiting forever." Short Man was asking this of the cashier to the left of us (deemed Bob). He then asks rudely to Bob, "Will you come over here and serve me?" Normally I do not speak up in situations such as this, but I said "Sir, he can't come over here to serve you - he has a line of his own." Short Man didn't turn around or say anything to me. Our cashier (Tim) comes back with water and Short Man says, "You idiot, I wanted a large water. I don't want YOU to serve me. (Turns to Bob). I want you to come over here and serve me." Once again I am getting mad because this is ridiculous and I say again, "Sir, he can't. He has a line of his own." Tim gets out his large water, Short Man pays in a huff and stalks off. My turn is next so I apologize for the rudeness of Short Man and Tim says, "it's okay, it happens every day." Seriously?? Who would put up with that!

I just couldn't believe the impatience and the audacity this Short Man had to act in such a manner and to demand someone else who was busy to stop everything and come serve him. People can be so ridiculous. Maybe this is why I do not go to the movies very often!

38 Weeks

I'm looking a little tired, huh? Well, I am!! I am really really ready to have this baby. Here I am at 38 weeks - a little less than 2 weeks to go. At this point, I am wanting to her to come after Thanksgiving, but I honestly will take her when she is ready to come! I went to the dr for a check up today and I am still at a 3 and she is estimated to be about 7 lbs. All in all, I have loved being pregnant, but these past few weeks she's been sitting on a few nerves so walking, sitting, bending down, anything that involves moving can be so painful! 3.5 official days of work left so after that, the countdown can really begin.

Surprises

On Friday we finally were able to get together with my family. It had been awhile since I've seen my own dad so it was nice to all be together and enjoy an evening of games. While we were still sitting around before we got wild & crazy playing the Game of Life, my nephew was running around like a crazy man and entertaining us all. My bro-in-law pulled him over to the side, so I thought that he was just being told to calm it down a little bit. Well, the next words out of Eli's mouth was "I'm going to be a big brother." YEA!!!! Clint & Emily are expecting another little one in May! I am super excited because this will give Haylie a little cousin that she can play with. This baby will be closer to her than any of the other cousins, so that will be super nice.

After all the excitement though, my sister told me she had a funny story for me. We go to the same OB, so the day they were there for the ultrasound and confirmation, she mentioned to Dr. Wilks that she would be delivering "my sisters baby soon." So Dr. Wilks asked who her sister was and she told her my name. Lo and behold, Dr. Wilks said that I would be coming in to see her in 20 minutes! Well, E wasn't ready for me to find out that day so Operation Sneak Out came into play. E went to grab C, who was sitting in the waiting room so I wouldn't see him when I walked in. Then at one point, they were hiding in Dr. Wilks' office so I wouldn't notice them and while I was being called back, E was walking up to the check out desk looking towards the wall so I wouldn't see her face at all. And I think C went out the back entrance. All in all, I obviously didn't notice they were there - not that I probably would have anyway. I'm pretty oblivious about stuff like that. But how random that the connection was made and they were able to sneak out without me knowing.

So needless to say, I am super pumped about becoming an aunt again! I think my mom is on hypermode with now two babies in the near future. We might have to give her a hyperventilation bag. :)

Some Friday Thoughts

I passed Sonic this afternoon at 2:08 - prime happy hour time. All 6 cars waiting in line were white.

I got home from work this afternoon - long enough to pee - and I got a knock on the door. It was a younger guy trying to sell me a $78 jug of cleaning stuff. Why isn't he in school? Is this going to happen more often when I'm at home with Haylie? I might need to get us a sign.

Most Friday afternoons I try to go run a few errands. And I most always run into Phyllis Allen. Today we met at Ross!

Do people feel bad when they are the only one turning and they make about 10 cars stop just so they have their turn?

Here is a hint - if someone stops to let you cross in front of their car, please don't saunter as slow as you can, practically stopping to look around, while they are waiting. They might not be in a hurry, but there is a time limit before I run you over!

Yesterday I went to the doctor for another weekly check up. I am at a 3 and 50% effaced. Dr. Wilks didn't think I would go as long as my due date. Hurray for an early baby (hopefully)!

Getting Closer

We have 3 weeks to go. We are so busy that we have started to double book our evenings. Take for instance tonight. We decided to go ahead and purchase some term life insurance and therefore our friend who is setting it up came at 5:30 and then we rushed off at 6:40 (pushing him out the door) to attend a Baby Feeding Class. Our Thursday evening will be the same deal too, although this time it will be a window salesman (who was told he has 45 minutes or less to give us his best price) and then friends coming over for dinner! I guess we are just trying to maximize the time we have left of pre-baby. My sister asked me the other day if we could get together with the family one more time before baby Haylie arrives and it was like a week and a half before we had a free evening. Crazy!

The countdown is coming closer. I have one more baby shower. I have 10 more days of work. I have 21 days until D-day...and that's if she comes on time!

Dreams

Some people say that when you are preggo, you have crazy dreams. Well, I have them even when I'm not "with child" but here are a few really random ones I've had lately.

1. My sister and I have been invited over to Sada's house for breakfast. We enjoy our meal and then we go outside and play with a big exercise ball. Then I realize that I have to be at work that day and don't make it in until 1. No one cares that I'm barely there for half a day.

2. Crislyn invites me over to help her put up a wooden swing set. Then we realize I'm pregnant and probably can't help with the heavy lifting.

3. There is a snake that keeps slithering up my leg, but it's not a regular snake. It keeps changing colors, like technicolors. I'm yelling at Justin to kill it (at one point I caught it on my hip) but he laughs and doesn't think it's a big deal. At this point, it turns into a cute pink pig and that's when Justin kills it.

Some of these don't seem random to you, but they do to me. Why is Crislyn putting up a swing set? Why are we still at Sada's house at 1 pm when we were invited over for breakfast? Why is a snake changing colors as it slithers up my leg? Or even better, why is a snake slithering up my leg and my husband doesn't care??

Any dream interpreters out there?

We have old, ugly windows. I think they are the original ones that were put in with the house - 30 years ago or so. Windows USA sent out a flyer that offered $100 gift card to Wal-mart if we let them come do a demonstration in our home. Sure! No problem. Until...

The demonstrator's time to come was at 8 pm. Sure, that's okay. What the problem turned into is that he did not LEAVE our house until 11:15 pm. At night. On a Tuesday. Are you KIDDING ME? I'm pregnant and tired. Get out of my house.

During the demonstration, we had to watch two DVD's of some guy explaining why their windows are fantastic. I did not sign up for DVD's. Nor did I sign up for our demonstrator laughing at everything he said. I can't even understand your joke before you start laughing and you want me to laugh with you?

Apparently, the only way this company can converse is through making cell phone calls back to the "home office." We had to make at least 5 during the 3 hours he was there. Why am I talking on someone's cell phone to get quotes about windows? Not just once, but several times over the course of the night. Get to the bottom line and stop jerking me around.

Finally, we got around to how much all this would cost. I'm sad to say that their quote was $15,000!!!! For 11 windows. Are you serious. By the time 11 pm rolled around, their quote was down to $6000. As a Dave Ramsey believer, that's not good enough for our budget. Why couldn't we have started at that price at 8 pm and he would have left by 9? That would have made me less grumpy.

Needless to say, we are now $100 richer at Wal-mart, but I'm not sure I would ever do that again for free $$. That was pure torture.

MRCC Shower

Wow, we had such a good weekend. First it started off with a massage, then the 3D/4D ultrasound, then Halloween, then we had our MRCC shower on Sunday! It was a whirlwind of a time, but it was so much fun. I'm sad because I didn't get a picture with me and all the hostesses, but maybe I can get everyone together and "recreate the moment." Haha.

Continuing my awesome facial expressions.

So many gifts! We are truly blessed!

My mom, me, my sister, my grandma & mother in law! Aren't we all pretty!

Later that evening, we were going through everything that we were given taking an inventory :) Anyway, we noticed Caramel sneak in and she found herself a little napping spot. Oh boy, the fun begins. Hopefully we won't have a cat fight break out once Haylie gets here. Get it? I'm so clever.

Who Does She Look Like?

Today we went to get a 3D/4D ultrasound at Miracle Within in Edmond. It's owned by Tim & Krystal LaValley who go to MRCC! It was a really cool experience and we got to see some sneak peak's of our baby girl. (It really IS a girl!!)

She was pouting for a minute

Little smile

Sticking her tongue out

Maternity Pictures

Last Saturday, we had Mandy take some maternity pictures. Mostly of me & the belly, but I wanted Justin to be in some of them too. She had us meet her at Myriad Gardens and it was a beautiful day!! I just got the pictures back tonight and I just can not believe how many I REALLY like!! She did a wonderful job!!

During one of the photos though, there was a little incident with bird poop. We were posing oh so lovely and plop, plop, that dang bird got both Justin and I!! Luckily it was brown and kind of blended in with our hair.

But we continued on like troopers that we are and here are some of our faves!