Our new little baby Parker

So... It has taken me forever to get this up on here... sorry. Through a semester of  "what if I go into labor before finals"- I was scared of my water breaking at school... missing finals... screwing up a long semester of 15 credits... well... even with 3 weeks of contractions... I was able to take my last final on my due date... and get induced the next morning! We went to the hospital at 5am on Thursday, December 11th. Here's some of the story...

I thought that ignorance was bliss when this first started. I was scared to go through another delivery now knowing that in just a few short hours I was going to feel like a train wreck! Turns out... things were easier the second time around... sort of. Thing started off well. They started me on the Pitocin right away and broke my water. Then, a good friend of ours was on his OB Anesthesia rotation, so we had him come in and do my epidural.

It was a magical day in New Orleans. I made Ryan go down the hall and take a picture for me so I could see the snow outside! Can you believe it? Snow in New Orleans! My doctor offered to move me to a room with a view, but I decided to stay in my cell and deliver there. I didn't want to cause a stir since the room wasn't a delivery room and they'd have to move a ton of stuff in there to have me deliver in it. It was a nice offer :-)

The baby's heart rate kept decreasing so they had me on oxygen for most of the time and were flipping me all over the place to keep him "happy." I got a bit stressed out at one point when there were two doctors and a nurse running in my room to change things. We thankfully never had to worry about a c-section... I got a bit freaked about it for a while but they changed how they were monitoring the baby and my contractions and then things progressed quickly to delivery. After just two contractions, and 7 pushes, out came our baby boy! He gave us a nice 5-10 seconds of pure silence in the room until he belted out his first cry! I guess he just wanted to start testing us from the beginning.

Parker Thomas McDonald 

December 11, 2008

7 lbs 3 oz  21 inches

I absolutely love my doctor. This is me with Dr. Kruger, the Resident that helped deliver, and my nurse Christy. They were all amazing!

Proud daddy 

Ellie seeing Parker in the nursery for the first time. She loves her "baby brother Parker"

Ellie meeting her brother

Brother and Sister

Ellie wanted to bring Parker in her bed and read him a story. She picked Beauty and the Beast. As you can tell, Parker was really liking it!

I can't believe we have two kids! It is amazing to feel what it is like to have another baby, and to love him, and have him as part of our family. I am so proud of Ellie for loving him so much and for her patience in sharing her Mommy. Ryan has also done such a wonderful job taking care of Ellie as we go through this transition. He's a great daddy!

Happy Halloween!!

This year for Halloween, Ellie was Dorothy. I'm not sure she completely understood who she was, but she had fun! The deciding factor on the costume was the fact that she would use the prop, Toto in a basket! The weekend before Halloween we went to "Boo at the Zoo" with our friends Mary, Wilson, and Gray. Gray, aka "GG," is one of Ellie's favorite buddies. They ran around together all night having a blast! Ellie was a hit, she had a couple requests for pictures with other trick or treaters. I am absolutely in love with her in this outfit!!

These two crack me up. They always laugh at one another and have so much fun!

Boo at the Zoo sets up a miniature street for the kids to walk down and trick or treat. The houses are down at toddler level so they can just walk up to the door and say trick or treat. Ellie got the hang of it after a few tries.

One of Ellie's favorite activities, DANCING! There was a kid's band at the zoo. Ellie and GG danced for a very long time.

They even had a bubble machine! 

The day after Boo at the Zoo was GG's birthday party. It was a Halloween theme so Ellie had to dress up for it. She got this cute princess outfit from our friend on her birthday. She has been a little reluctant to do the whole outfit, usually just wanting to wear the dress. But that morning she actually let me put it on her and wore the tiara and everything. I was so proud of her!

My camera died right after this picture. That's all we got for Halloween. We did take her trick or treating on Halloween night. At first she was totally freaked out to even talk to people on their porches, but after a few houses she got more comfortable. My favorite part was when I would remind her to say trick or treat, and she'd repeat, "treat." Thinking I was actually asking her to choose between a trick or a treat. Ohhhh Ellie!

I can't believe how much she has grown in the last few months. Her personality is just exploding. This comes in forms of fun cute comments, and two year old meltdowns, but it is still so fun! We bought her a toddler bed last weekend. The transition has gone relatively well. She eventually goes to sleep at nap and night time, but the key word right now is eventually. The other night I walked into her room to find the light on. She looked at me and said, "I did it!" She was quite proud of her accomplishment, for she had stood on top of a box I left below the light switch, flipped on the light, and then got down. She also was lucky enough to have Pickles accidently left in her room one night. I heard her giggling, so I opened the door and found her wrestling with the dog in the middle of her room. She is so good hearted that it is hard not to laugh at all of her silly moments, and be serious enough to tell her to get back in bed. I keep trying to figure out how to make her scared of me, but it isn't working. She just loves to play. I gave up on the scared thing after one night... I want her to love me. She'll figure it all out. Potty training is also in the works... updates to follow!

The pregnancy is almost to the end! 4 1/2 more weeks! I can't believe it. I am trying to prepare, but I'm not there yet. The goal next week is to get their room set up. As much as I'd love to not be pregnant anymore, this baby can't come out yet. I also have 4 1/2 weeks of school left. I am enjoying my classmates reactions as I walk into class larger and LARGER every day. At an ultrasound last week the baby measured at 5 lbs 12 oz... um- that's not okay. Ellie was 6 lbs 14 oz at 39 weeks... there is not way I want this baby to gain 3 more pounds! (1/2 lb per week, with 6 weeks left at that time) Ryan was a 10 lb baby, but I am praying that machine was off. I know, I know, as long as it's healthy! I'll keep you posted.

Silly Time

Ryan and Ellie called me into her room the other day to show me their play-dough noses!

I love to watch Ellie's face when she's being entertained by her daddy. The way she smiles and laughs at him just shows how much she absolutely loves him!

This is Ellie with her friend Moxie. They were wrestling on the love sac and being very cute. I love babies in pajamas!

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY ELLIE!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!! 

(reminder... scroll to the music on the bottom of this page & hit pause so you can hear the videos)

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

BLOW OUT YOUR CANDLE!!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY ELLIE!

She helped me make sprinkle cupcakes to take to school on her actual birthday.

At her party...

If you watched the video above where she blew out her candle, you'll understand this pic. She is now afraid of blowing them out.

I had to add this picture from her party. Left-Right... Katrina, Janice, me, Mary (with Gray) and Katie. All of us started here in New Orleans back in 2005 when each of our husbands (and Mary herself)  started their residencies. Everyone except for Katrina is pregnant in this picture! I can't believe how much has changed since we first met over 3 years ago.

Ellie's first Back to School night

Ellie had her first open house at school, which she proudly took her Daddy to. This is her showing him where her classroom is...

Ellie and her teacher Miss Jessica. Ellie loves Miss Jessica... and she is seriously spoiled by her. Is it bad my kid is a favorite??

Ellie and Miss Natalie. The University has student teachers who are part of the education department. Natalie is a student, and another favorite of Ellie's.

Ellie's class is called the Turtles. She wanted to show Ryan her turtle.

These are Ellie's duckies. Every day when we arrive at school she yells, "Good morning duckies!" When we leave she has to walk over and pet them all, sometimes even kiss them all!

Most recent trip "Home"

We went home to California in September to visit family and go to a friend's wedding... it was the first time Ryan had been home in over a year!

Ellie at the park

With Uncle "Joshy"- I love this picture! You're so cute Josh.

We had a family get together to celebrate Ellie's 2nd Birthday in California. We first attempted to go out on the lake, but as luck would have it... both boats broke down. As we got towed back in, Ellie was attempting to drive the pontoon boat!

Back at my parents, for the party. My mom rented a cotton candy machine! Ellie is spoiled... this is her with some of her cousins.

Our girl LOVES Wall-E.

At Lindsay's wedding... with the piggies!

Courtney, don't hate me. I love this picture. Court and I have been friends since we were like 7 or 8 years old. We have been pregnant with both our kids at the same time, which has been fun! Poor Courtney actually had her baby like 3 days after the wedding. She was a trooper and did a ton for her sister's wedding! Love you Court!

Us with Lindsay and Justin

Some Random Pics

For Hurricane Gustav, we evacuated to Florida with some gracious friends. They let us stay at a family home, actually the same place from a previous blog about our Florida trip. It was quite the "evacuation"... more like vacation. Thanks Mike and Katie!

Hot stuff, baby

Ellie's little friend had ponies at his birthday party. Ellie loved it!

Filling Mommy's shoes

On our way to Ellie's first Saints game. I know, how can I have my child in a guy's jersey who has now been suspended for trying to hide using steroids? I don't know, but she loves DEUCE!!

Bath time, our favorite time