Visitors

This message has been brought to you by: GRACE!
I am sure that many of the following messages are also going to be on the same topic, but here is one that is about some special visitors that have come by to see her.

This is a rare occasion, Grace wide eyed and happy at the same time (while not being in somebodies arms). I thought it was a great pic.

Another quick family photo.

And finally the visitors. Grace's grandparents from TN came for the week. Above is Grandma Sue loving on her, while below is Grandpa Steve relaxing with her.

I guess they must have thought her quite a gift for they brought her a stocking of her own and placed her under the tree :)It has been a fun week of introducing the family members to Grace!

Christmas Greetings

Merry Christmas from the Daniels Family....
Wait, someone else wants to be added into this greeting...Merry Christmas from all three of us.

Matt, Lana, and Grace

MOUSE!

Now typically I would be yelling and screaming and running around if I saw a mouse in my house...

But this has to be the cutest little Christmas mouse ever.


Check out that tail!
Merry Christmas to all

Home

We have been in the hospital since Friday morning at about 5:00 am so when Monday about 3:00 pm came and we finally were able to leave the hospital it was such a great feeling.

Here is a short version of the past few days events:

Friday 12/18
- water broke at 3:30 am
- Amy and Dad quickly got in the car to drive from Harrisonburg to Roanoke so that Amy could be with us.
- Admitted to the hospital
- Nothing happening...absolutely NOTHING!
- 11:00 am started getting Pitocin to start labor
- From 1:00 pm on Friday to 2:45 am Saturday hard labor with contractions coming about 2-3 minutes apart the whole time. :(

Saturday 12/19
- 2:45 am got an epidural
- Had a 2 hour nap...Heavenly!
- Woke up feeling GREAT! I am learning that epidurals are nice (especially after 14 hours of contractions...)
- After 30 minutes of pushing....
- Grace arrived at 10:21 am


Mom, Dad and Baby are all doing fine....
But we had to stay in the hospital so long because it was so long between when my water broke to when delivery happened. So monitoring had to take place.

The important thing is that now we are home, happy and learning how to do this parent thing :)

A glimpse at Grace

Grace is a little over a day old, we are already getting calls from Mamaw Kiser that we need to post some more pictures.

I got this picture of Matt holding Grace soon after she was cleaned up by the nurse.
This is a picture Matt took this afternoon. She doesn't look happy, but you can at least see her hair!

Graces hand...

Graces feet...

Graces ear.

That is a closer look at Grace.

Baby!

Grace Elizabeth born 12/19/09 at 10:21 am weighed 7 pounds 1 ounce

baby time

Water broke at about 3 am. Keep you posted with info and pictures.

Still here

I thought that since I had not blogged since Saturday and, that one involved a trip to the hospital I would give an update.

I am still here at home, waiting.

But at least I have company. Matt has worked his vacation so that he is off from today to Jan 4th!

We have been walking, doing chores around the house, and watching movies (Ice Age is next since I have never seen it)

Still big and uncomfortable, Still looking forward to seeing our little girl,.....

Still Waiting!

Almost 38 weeks

This is Amy updating the status for Lana.

Lana is at the end of her 37th week. She will start her 38th week on Tuesday.

Yesterday Lana was contracting about every 10-11 minutes. Today she called me at 12:30 pm and said that I might want to come down here, since she was contracting about every 7 minutes. When we got here she was actually contracting closer to every 4 minutes. About 4:00 we called the Dr. and decided that we would go to the hospital and have her checked.

We got to the hospital about 5pm. Lana was checked and about 1 cm. The Dr. told her to go home and relax. Lana was really hoping that she would leave with her baby, but the time will come.


Here is her most recent belly picture.

Keeping Busy

With less than three weeks to go before my due date, I am anxiously looking forward to getting my big Christmas present (our little girl). One of my friends mentioned that it helps to keep busy because if you stay at home and only think about wanting to have the baby, it will seem like it will never happen! So thanks to family and GE we are trying to keep busy so my mind is occupied a little.

Last weekend Matt and I went to Harrisonburg and had Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Cookie day (a Kiser tradition) all in one weekend. This was because this is the last trip that we are going to make before Grace is born, so all the holidays needed to be fit in.

Yesterday we went to the Hotel Roanoke (which is always amazing around Christmas time with the many, many Christmas trees that the local businesses decorate for the hotel) for the GE Christmas dinner. It is always fun to meet for the first time, and see again some of the people that Matt works with. This was my third time going to this party and I must say that it gets more enjoyable each time, maybe because I get to know some of the people better over the year.

Pending a trip to the hospital....

Thursday we are going to go and assemble little red wagons and trikes for children in need. That was a very fun event last year with very yummy pizza afterward. We will see how much I will be able to help, I might just be there to hand the tools to the individuals who are doing the real work.

Saturday will be a early morning because we are planning on going to a warehouse and helping with Christmas baskets which are actually very large boxes that are filled with food and toys and other items that local businesses donate. These are filled then delivered to local needy families. Last year we added in a toy train and also some body spray. I wonder what station we will be able to get this year...hopefully something toward the end (so I do not have to bend over too much to help it all fit in) and also not too heavy. This was a great event last year because 1. they had great donuts to eat... and 2. we took our radio and had Christmas music to dance around to while we waited for the boxes to be carted around.

This is only the plan for this week, next week we have infant CPR among many other things. I really am trying to keep myself busy while at the same time not too over booked so that I get exhausted.

(But honestly I have to admit that I hope that I do not make it to half of these events, because I want to meet this little girl...and soon!)

My favorite time of year

It is now my favorite time of year. Christmas? Nope!

Advent!

I know it is kind of odd but it is true that at times when my teachers would ask what was my favorite holiday other kids would answer halloween, thanksgiving, Christmas, or even their birthdays, but I remember answering Advent. I am not sure why I like it so much. Maybe it is because:

1. The anticipation to Chrismas...
2. We get to eat by candlelight...
3. Or maybe it was the only time of the year that mom and dad would let me handle matches :)

Well, who knows why I like it so much, but I do. And now thanks to my father-in-law and mother-in-law we have a beautiful advent wreath.

This was my first attempt at decorating the wreath. I think it looks pretty good for a first year try. We have been enjoying this advent wreath and the sayings that go along with it that Matt grew up saying each time the candles were lit.

This is a tradition that I really look forward to passing along to our little girl when she finally decides to arrive.