As For Me And My House We Will Serve the Lord.
Joshua
24:15


Follow Our Family by Email

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Meeting the family

Arabella was able to meet the Williams side of her family last weekend.  Josh's parents and youngest brother, Jeremiah, and sister, Jamiie came down for the weekend to meet their newest family member.  Landon was so excited to see his family.  We had a great time visiting with them.  Josh and I even got to sleep in a little on Saturday.


Saturday, February 26, 2011

Arabella's Photo Shot with Mrs Linda

Our friend Linda was kind enough to take new born photos of Arabella.  They turned out fabulous!  We are blessed to have such a great friend with a great talent- especially since I love pictures.

Here are some of our favorties but you can see them all at ...
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=3330403&id=2022607&l=ae0765af89


She melts my heart!




Thank you Linda for the gorgeous pictures of our precious baby girl!

...And the great two pictures you snapped of Landon

I love those eyes!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Why being a mommy of two is awesome...

My smiley girl
I have never seen such a young baby smile as much as she does












My silly boy
He has an awesome imagination and love to dress up.  Just about every night after a bath he wants to dress up in his hat, socks, and mittens and makes up some story about it being cold.



The best of all...
My loves loving on each other

 
That is why being a mommy is awesome!!!

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Arabella's Birth Day

After a couple of "I think today is the day"s, Sunday night (February 6th) I wasn't feeling well and again having a lot of Braxton Hicks or contractions- I had no idea what to call them at this point.  By the time I was thinking "this might really be in" was about 5 hours after Jamiie Jo had left.  Jamiie had come down on Tuesday night when my water broke.  She missed a half week of classes including one test.  While she was here I had contractions that were 2 minutes apart and about 1.5 minute half long.

Of course it would happen right after she left.  I prayed that I would make it through the night so I could rest and we would have to leave Landon in the middle of the night.  I woke up numerous times with long contractions and finally couldn't stay laying down any more at about 7:15am.  I had to walk through the contractions.  Landon woke up shortly afterward.  We started to let him know what was going to happen and where and what he was going to go and do for the day.  Josh tried to get some things done around the house and get Landon fed and play with him.  Landon was getting a little concerned for me and my contractions were about 3 minutes apart.  I thought it would be best go get him dropped off at our friend, Vernine's house.  Vernine is Zach's (the little boy I normally take of during the week) mommy.  We got out of the house a little after 9:30am.  By the time we were checked in and in our room it was about 11:30.  I had a wonderful nurse, Hillary.  She had a student who was training with her, I think her name was Dena.  Josh is a great couch to get me through all the tough labor pains.  The last half hour with no pain meds was tough but I made it.  Hillary was awesome when I was pushing she really helped me focus on what I needed to do and being a mom she had a little advantage over Josh.  But is was great too.  I couldn't have done it without him!  Dr. Marichal was able to make it in half way through the pushing.  Now he has delivered both of our children.  We really love him as a doctor a lot.  Dr. Carroccio took care of me when Dr. Marichal wasn't there. She was great too. 
After about 15 minutes of pushing at 2:24pm Arabella Elizabeth Williams was born!  She was healthy and we were so happy to meet her!




7 lbs 7 oz and 20 3/4 in



Landon holding his baby sister for the first time

My babies!




My sleeping loves

hello bright eyes!

getting ready to go home



I'm ready to go!


Tiny hands

My sweet girl








Visitors
Michelle

Nate
Charlie


Paula



Mike and Vernine










Sally

Chris and Jason


Jason and Landon being silly       






                           





Presents from Uncle Jon and Aunt Merry!

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

My Sweets for Valentine's and one week old

Here are a couple of pictures of two of my sweets for Valentine's this year. 


Sibling love is awesome!






Arabella was also one week old on Valentine's Day.  She is doing so well. She is a super happy content baby.  She nurses and sleeps great! I am very thankful for her because with a 2.5 year old I don't know what I would do otherwise.  Also Josh has had to work at least a half day every day since she has been born. 

On Friday after she was born I took her to the pediatrician for her check up so they could check on her jaundice since she was a little jaundice the day we left the hospital   The doctor was very happy with her progression and said she had not seen many babies return to their birth weight by that time even when they are formula feed.  So I guess she really is a good eater!


Landon adores her and takes great care of her.  He will even stop crying when he gets upset(most of the time) if he knows it is bothering her.  He talks to her and gives her kisses when I change her diaper.  He pats her back with me when I am done nursing her.  He also holds her hand or puts his hand on her while we are reading books.  I love it.  Being the oldest in my family and seeing Landon just reminds me how much I loved being a big sister.  It is amazing how this tiny little person can come into our lives and my heart grows for her but also it makes me love my son more, my husband more, my brother and my mom.  Arabella has blessed us so much and even though we would love her just as much if she wasn't just an easy going baby it just makes life so much easier to enjoy. 


Landon wanted to show is new little sister how much fun it is to play in a tent


Our smilie girl

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Our sweet baby girl, Arabella!

She is a such a blessing.
We are home!  Arabella has been welcomed by all of our fuzzy animals and she doesn't seem to mind them at all.  Big brother Landon is very taken with her and already protective of her.  She already has Mommy and Daddy's hearts. 

 A couple of people have asked how to pronounce her name.  It is R-a-bella.  If that makes sense. :)

Thank you for all the prayers and well wishes!  We love visitors so if you want to stop by just give us a call. 

Monday, February 7, 2011

Welcome to the world, Arabella Elizabeth Williams!

We welcomed Arabella Elizabeth Williams in to the world at 2:40PM on 2/7/2011!
She weighed _7__ lbs and 7 oz and was 20 and 3/4 inches long.

Mommy and Arabella are resting and doing great!!

Daddy and Landon are excited to have a little girl to add to our growing family.

Friday, February 4, 2011

Baby Williams- trouble maker already?

I am excited and anxious to meet our new little one.  I have heard so many stories from mommies and daddies of two or more how neat it is to learn the differences and similarities between their children.  I am excited to watch Landon become a big brother, a role that I know he must have been made for.  If you watch Landon around any baby or even spend the day with him you will most likely think the same thing.  I am am looking forward to our family growing and worry about being a great mommy to 2 instead of 1.  It seems like there is nothing more I could give another but I know that my heart will just grow and there will be plenty to go around.

This baby is hopefully days and not weeks from coming to meet his/her family.  Already there are so many differences and I am sure one day I can look back and laugh at them but at the moment they are driving me crazy!  Landon's birth and labor was a little worrisome and stressful since I had preeclampsia and he had an abnormal umbilical cord.  I had to have an emergency induction and was minutes away from have an emergency c-section.  God answered our prayers and he was born with no health issues and I made it through the whole thing with no pain killers!

This little baby is, in a sense better, off than Landon health-wise. As of right now I do not have preeclampsia and the baby's umbilical cord is normal.  So the differences are already there.  Also this time, I have been having Braxton Hick like crazy since November.  I am dilated and not in the hospital.  My water broke and then has closed up (didn't know that could happen).  I thought last night I was going to go to the hospital because I was having contractions that were a good 1.5 minutes long and not more than 2 minutes apart, only to have them stop right after I told Josh I think we should leave.  I am thankful that this baby has a healthier start but he/ she sure is teaching me a HARD lesson in patience and God's timing. 

Josh's youngest sister already missed a half of week of school to come and watch Landon and help out.  Of course, you can probably guess that now there won't be another week Jamiie can just miss school.  Landon has voiced to us that he just wanted Aunt Jamiie to stay with him if Mommy and Daddy had to go to the hospital without him.  I would love for him to have his first choice of how things go when baby comes.  If this baby doesn't come this weekend then he will have to stay with friends.  We are blessed to have so many friends who have offered to help in so many ways. I wish though that I didn't have to leave Landon.  I know he will have fun with friends and he will be fine but I am a worrier (even though I try hard not to be) and he is my baby.  I know God's plans are the best so all I am asking is any of you who are reading this pray that our baby arrives safely and with as little stress to the family as possible.  I would love to add prayer for the baby to come quickly but I know that really isn't my decision and maybe not the best.

Baby Williams, we love you and can't wait to meet you.  You are driving your Mommy a little crazy but I know that just comes with being a Mommy.

I can't wait...
to hold you in my arms.
to find out if you are a little girl or boy. 
to give you to your big brother who already loves you and is so excited to meet you. 
to see your Daddy hold you and love on you because he LOVES babies so much especially when they are his.


So come as soon as your ready and be safe and nice to your Mommy.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Whitlock's Visit to Gainesville!

The Whitlocks came in town this past Sunday to visit for a bit before heading down to Orlando for Isaac's 3 birthday.  He is a lucky little man and gets to spend his birthday at Disney World's Magic Kingdom!

Happy Birthday Isaac!!!!

Jimmy, Katie, Isaac and Baby Jovie came to church services at Harvest.  Landon was excited to see his friend in the toddler room during service.  Several friends stayed after church and we all had lunch and spent some time talking, playing outside and playing a round of "What if?"  It was a lot of fun and we treasure any time we get to spend with such great friends.

MOPS Firehouse visit

Our Fire House #4 Visit
My MOPS group had a field trip to one of our local fire house stations.  Landon and Zach had a blast!  They were so excited.  Landon talked about fire trucks the whole way there and they both talked about saving people, firemen, and fire trucks the rest of the day. 

Landon's good friend Ben, his mom (one of my good friends), Julie and her new little girl Charlotte also came.  Landon was very excited to see another one of his friends.  They held hands a lot of the field trip and there were lots of hugs too.  The fire fighters and fire house teacher were really great.  It was perfect for a mixed group of kids between a few weeks to 4 or 5 years old. 

We saw Fireman Kevin suit up and the kids were able to give him a high five and have their picture taken with him.  Landon was VERY talkative with the firemen and women.  He talks all the time at home but is normally quiet when we are out especially with people he doesn't know.  Not here, he was telling the firemen all kinds of stories about fire trucks and police men and so on. 

The firehouse had a call while we were there.  They were actually about to let the kids get in the truck.  They had us quickly get on the grass and they all piled in their truck sirens on and rushed to helps someone.  It was pretty neat other than the fact there was an emergency.  Apparently, an ambulance got to the site first and the firetruck was able to return quick enough for everyone to have a chance to tour the inside of the big truck.  While they were gone, the kids did get to sit in the Fire Chief's truck.  Landon was very excited since he had just asked one of the fire men if he could see the "little" fire truck. 

The kids received a fire hat before leaving.  It was a great morning!  I am really glad I was able to take the boys.