Fun with Chelsea

Chelsea started something new!

She loves to talk! The first time she did this was when we had friends over. They were sitting on the couch across from us, we were just talking back and forth. Chelsea who was sitting on my lap decided that she wanted to be part of the conversation too. She was determined to make just as much continuous noise as we were. Since then I've been trying to catch it on camera, and...Ta da! success! So here is the video, you can just imagine her "telling" you about her day or what she's thinking about.

She also loves her new Bumbo. It's a whole new angle on life sitting up. She loves chewing and drooling on her little white tiger Great-Grandma Jones gave her for Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

This year Chris & I hosted the Baldwin's Christmas Eve Dinner. The food was great! We made a big Ham in the crock-pot, it turned out delicious with a glaze we made with Coke-brown sugar-cinnamon.

After dinner we had a snowflake making contest of which Kyle kicked butt with a very intricate design. We all had a tone of fun trying to figure it out, Chris was of course the go to guy on how to fold the paper to make it a six sided snowflake. This knowledge came from when he and the guys at work got bored and sat around and made snowflakes, Chris then figured out how to fold it to make six sides. (ya gotta love government jobs!) We then played the "signs game" at Ashley's request and had a blast!

Christmas day started off on a great note with Chelsea sleeping in until 9:00. It was great! Then we got up and went to the presents under the tree. Chris got some clothes, boomerangs, a tie organizer, and an iPod touch. I got some books, bath stuff, a journal, but my main present was a Sewing table with an airlift for my machine to be above, below or flush with the table! Tons of storage and folding leafs to extend the table. And it all collapses into a nice little dresser.We both were spoiled!

Chelsea got a Bumbo, and lots of stuffed animals. Esau got toys too and... he unwrapped them himself, and no, he did not stop at the paper! It was hilarious to watch! I wish I had a video of it, but here are some pictures at 5, 10, & 13 minutes

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too!

Baby Came

Chelsea Ramona Baldwin was born 5:02 AM on September 18th 2010. She was 6 Lbs 15 oz.

Ya it's been two months since she was born and I just barely got around to Blogging about it, but hey, I've been busy!!!

Ever since she was born she has been such a Daddy's girl! Even in the delivery room when she was getting cleaned up and was screaming, once Chris touched her back she stopped crying and just looked around with big (Steal Grey) eyes.

She has been such a blessing and so much fun!

Chris Blessed her a week later on the Sunday before my Mom and Dad had to go back to Dubai. I had to take-in her Blessing dress a good 2" because she was so small. I barely got it finished the night before the blessing, but it payed off. She looked great!

Esau and Chelsea have been getting along great! At first Esau just ignored her, but now that he realized she's not going away, he likes to be close to her. Especially when Chelsea is on the floor for tummy time or playing under her jungle gym. He's learning to keep his tongue in his mouth when close to Chelsea, and he is a great at telling me when she has a dirty diaper, though Chelsea usually kicks him in the head when he's checking.

It has sure been a blast getting to know Chelsea and her quirks. She rolled over from her tummy to her back for the first time the other day. At first I thought it was a fluke, but after putting her on her tummy four more times with the same result, I figured she knew what she was doing.

She is still a Daddy's girl, Chris can get some of the best smiles out of her, but she does babble to me more. We have the competition going of me trying to get her to say "Momma" first and Chris trying to get her to say "Dada" first. Its kinda' fun, but I'm totally going to win!

When I was up in Canada this last May my Mom and I got talking about the Baby, and everything that we needed to plan and get ready for when she came. One thing we talked about was Baby Blessing outfits. Mom had the amazing Idea that I make the Blessing Dress out of her Wedding Dress. At first I hesitated because that meant that I would be cutting up my Mom's Wedding Dress. She assured me that she didn't mind and that it's not like she was using it any way.

So we packed up Mom's wedding dress and brought it home with us, where it sat in the baby's room until I got up the guts to start working on the Blessing Dress.

I felt so bad cutting into the Wedding Dress. With the first few scissor cuts I kept saying "I'm Sorry, I'm Sorry, I'm Sorry!" But as a fairly cute (if I do say so myself) Blessing Dress came out of it I think I felt a little less guilty.

I haven't put the zipper in the back yet, I still need to buy one. I also don't know how big she is going to be, so if I need to expand or take it in I can do it from the Zipper, which I won't put in until she's here. Maybe a week before the Blessing to be sure it will fit her.

The dress size is supposed to be for between 7-15 lbs. or 1 month old. She's due on the 12th, and we'll have to bless her before my parents go back to Dubai on the 30th, so the last Sunday of the month is our best bet. On the rare chance that she's born on her due date; that would put her at 2 weeks old. I've heard that in their first week they loose a pound or two, but then they gain it back with interest in the second week. So guesstimating her birth weight at about 7 lbs ish, she could be anywhere from 7-10 lbs on her Blessing day, and if she's born a week early, maybe she'll be about 15lbs, or a week late would put her at about 7 lbs. Ya it's a huge guessing game, I just hope the dress will fit her! It was a lot of work and it would sure stink big time if she ended up not fitting it.

IT'S A GIRL!

We had our week 20 check-up today, and the ultrasound to see the Baby. The technician was great. She was able to tell right away that we were going to have a girl. Of course Chris had to know how she knew, and how often she had been wrong. So she explained what to look for (something about a turtle for a boy and three lines for a girl) and that no one has ever come back to tell her that she was wrong. She also did a bunch of measurements of the skull, brain, cerebellum, spine, ect. and everything checked out as healthy. She also checked the umbilical cord, and turned on a really interesting feature that shows two different colors depending on the direction of flow in the cord, to make sure the blood was pumping both ways, and to be sure there were two arteries and one vein... because thats important... don't ask me why, it just is. I don't know enough about that stuff. But all in all our Baby Girl checks out as normal and healthy. Well as normal a kid could be with parents like us. ;)

It was fun seeing her move around as we watched. And boy did she move, the tech. had a hard time trying to point things out since she kept moving all the time. It looks like she'll be a talker too, while we were trying to get a picture of her face to check for a cleft pallet (she doesn't have one) she kept moving her lips, and right as we took the shot she yawned, so this is the picture we have of her face and the big yawn. I feel like I'm rambling on, but I'm allowed to right?

Both Chris and I were trying to keep very open minded and not get our hearts set on one gender or the other. So when we were told she was a girl, I don't think I had much of a reaction. It was just kind of... Oh. OK. Sweet.

Chris was the same, but I got his thoughts later while we were waiting for the doctor. He said his first thought was, "well, everyone is having a girl right now, so why not us?" then his second was, "now I'll have to protect her from all those punks out there!" and the third thought was, "I'm gunna have to save up for a wedding now too." (I thought they were all perfectly cute daddy-to-be thoughts.) but then again I think everything is cute right now.

We're still open for any suggestions on a name, so if you have one speak up. I'm kind of drawing a blank. Poor girl will be cursed for the fourth generation to have the middle name Ramona, like me, my Mom, and my Grandmother.

So ---------------, Ramona, Baldwin.

Or if you have a name you've already claimed, feel free to speak up so we don't use it. Chris and I will not steal a name someone has already called dibs on. (and has let us know about it.)

Find the Baby

Find the Baby... They promise me there's one in there. Yes, Just ONE! This is the Baby's first picture taken on February 8th 2010. I thought I lost it when I "hid" it when all our family came over and we weren't telling anyone the news yet. But whilst cleaning I found it in a book, so here it is. Start placing bets now on weather its a boy or girl. OK so the Baby is the white spot that is surrounded by the black ring on the left, and right in the middle is where we saw the heart fluttering. When we saw the heart beating it really made it all feel real. Every once and a while it feels so unreal, so having this "proof" that there is a baby in there helps keep it real. And its kind of fun to look at and imagine.

Mahon and Cindy came over Saturday to color eggs with us. We found this cool tie-die kit and we had a blast with those. Then this morning after I took the dog out, Chris was at the front door waiting for me. "OK, find them" he says. He had hidden all the eggs we had colored. He's just like a little boy on holidays like this. So we had fun finding eggs. Today we had Amanda and Jarred over to watch the last conference and have dinner, so all in all it was a great Easter.

P.S. while looking at egg pictures I found a great one of Esau. He had chewed a hole in both sides of his basketball one bigger than the other. So my wonderful husband thought that it would be funny to slip it over Esaus' head and see if he could get it off. ya... he can't get it off without help. But it was a great laugh.

We're Pregnant

I'm about 17 weeks along and due on September 12th 2010. This was a bit of a surprised but Chris and I can't be more exited. We're hopefully going to find out the sex on our next doctors visit on April 23. So we'll let you know.

They say you're supposed to feel the baby move around 16 weeks, but I haven't felt much. I thought I felt the baby move once one night while in bed, but then again, it could have been gas... Another pleasant side affect of pregnancy.

I've also had awful morning sickness that lasts all day, and has yet to stop.

And as far as names go, we have no idea, so we're definitely open to suggestions.

I'll try to be better at blogging and keep everyone up to date.