Welcome to the world Nora Katherine

Daddy with his new baby girl

Getting all checked out

Cousin's headed in to see baby Nora

Nora Katherine Ressler//Born 2:25pm//8pounds 14 ounces//20.5 inches long. My heart is so full

Me with my two precious babies

First family photo

Sister's and cousin's. Those girls are going to be the best of friends.

Proud Eesie and Poppie

Be still my heart!

Is that a baby doll? ;)

Proud Aunt Em

Cousin Wyatt checking it all out. He's going to be the sweetest cousin with all these girls around.

Haha. This was the second day. Zetta was ready to have her parent's home. Sweet girl.

She was worn out!

Heading home!

Can't forget about the girl who made me a mama!

Nora's birth story:
We knew we were going to be getting induced early due to the fact that I have large babies! We headed to the hospital when the clock struck midnight on Monday the 24th. Actually, funny story, we were suppose to be there at midnight, but Pete and I both fell asleep on the couch and woke up about 1am. We scurried around, packed our bags, I ate a sandwich because I knew what was about to come, and then we took off! We live about 3 minutes from the hospital so we got there quick. The check in nurse was so slow, but we finally got checked in and I got hooked up and going about 2 am. We slept on and off until the nurses switched out at 7am. Then, after being bothered every hour all night we decided to just wake up for the day. I went into the hospital dilated to 4cm, but really hadn't progressed much since. Around 10am I really started to feel my contractions, so I went ahead with the epidural. That whole process went smooth, and I tried to take a nap after that. I really started to feel all of my contractions again, so they had the  anesthesiologist come back. She gave me a few different things (honestly, I can't remember what, but it made the pain go away so I didn't care.) and I was ready to go. I could tell when she was in there that my contractions were getting pretty close and painful, and I was scared she was going to numb me too much, then I wouldn't be able to feel when to push. So, while she was getting it all straighten out, when a contraction would come I would just kind of do a little push while I was sitting there. I guess I shouldn't have been doing that though, because the next time the nurse came in, she checked me and I was at a 10. She was like wow, let's have this baby. I got all up and organized  (if you know what I mean) and she wanted me to do a practice push before we started actually pushing. Well, I did one practice push and she made me get out of the stirups and call Dr. Cugini! I couldn't believe I was that close! All those little pushes did more than I thought! Dr. Cugini got there and I did two pushes for her and then we heard that beautiful cry! I could not believe it! I pushed for over two hours with Zetta, so I was expecting it to be a long process again! Praise God it was not! Easiest birth ever and thankful our little girl was here!! My family was in the waiting room, but we told Pete's family that I was going to start pushing so they had about 2 hours before family could come in probably, so they were back at work (15 minutes away) but were there pretty quick. For some reason we didn't get any pictures of them with Nora at the hospital. Kind of bummed about that!! Anyway, Nora is here and doing great, we couldn't be more thankful!

What we're up to...

Let me catch you up to speed on where our lives are right now! We moved into our new house over the summer. It is the last house on a quiet, dead end street and we love it! We renovated this one more to our taste than any in the past. It was a fun process, but a bit more stressful than usual considering we are planning on making this our home for a few years! Which who knows if that is even true. If we find something else that we like more, than I am sure we will move but, right now I am just enjoying this house and all it has to offer! Zetta got a major upgrade in floor space in her room, so that is a plus. The minus for her now though, is she get's to share it with her baby sister! There is another room upstairs right next to her's that Pete is currently using as his office that we could make a nursery if we wanted to, but I loved sharing a room with my sister when I was younger and I also really like having Pete's office upstairs. I don't know why, but I feel like if he moved it down to one of the bedroom's in the basement I wouldn't see him as much! So ridiculous, but oh well. We will see how it works out and if we need to make a change, we will! So onto the topic of baby sister! Can you believe it? We are going to two babies, 16 months apart! We knew after we had Zetta that we were going to just let it all be in God's timing on when we were going to have another child and boy, did he surprise us! We just thought since I was breastfeeding and it took us over a year to get pregnant with Zetta it wouldn't be too soon. Which some days I think that 16 months apart isn't too soon but, then others, I selfishly don't want to give up my undivided attention on my first baby just quite yet. With all that being said, we are extremely excited that we are having another girl and know it's going to have it's challenges, but nothing that we can't handle!
I started working full time when Zetta turned 10 weeks old. I started out at a rehab facility being a technintion and really enjoyed the people and interacting with patients all day long. When I was two weeks into that job, a lady I use to babysit for called and said that she was good friends with the owner of LeBounce (a local bounce house in our area) and that I would be perfect for the job! I went and applied, and ended up getting the job! I put my two weeks in at my brand new job (oops) and worked 2 jobs for the next two weeks. It was an incredibly stressful time for me. Not only was I adjusting to motherhood and all that comes with it(pumping at work, waking in the middle of the night, etc, etc), I was working 2 full time jobs. This was my first full time job since college to begin with, so it was just a hard time. Anyone who has made that transition from college student to 40 hours a week job, knows how much of a shock that adjustment is. I truly do not think I am use to it yet!..someday! Since I started at LeBounce in February, there has been a lot of changes there, and all for the better of course. There was 2  facilities under the name LeBounce, and as of November 1st we separated the two facilities, and I work at a place called "Orange Monkey"! It is still a kids entertainment type place, just bigger and better(I will do a whole post on what I do exactly at another time)! Life as a manager has it's challenges but, is also rewarding!
Pete is still flipping foreclosure's and becoming quite the stud if I do say so myself! He has been lucky enough to buy, flip, and sell at a pretty good pace, so he only has about two or three houses he is working on at one time. He also has one rental property(3 separate units though) through his business that he manages and we have two personal rentals that he takes care of as well! He is extremely busy but you would never know it! He is the most calm spirited guy! God knew exactly what he was doing when he put us together! I need someone like him to keep me from going insane!! That is the basics of where we are now! I am hoping to get before and after pictures of our house uploaded soon, I am so pleased with the outcome and can't wait to share!

Belly and Baby Shower Pictures and a few Tidbits!

Hello! I have obviously been terrible at updating, so I am going to have to do one big post of what's been going on and all the pictures I have! Of course they are all from my phone..owell, maybe the baby will make me better about using my camera! Here we go!

 I am pretty sure that this is 30 weeks

Another 30 weeks

30 weeks bare belly!

This was at my first baby shower that my sister and friend Patty threw for me, 34 weeks and 4 days.

The next weekend my mom's "bible study" friends threw me a church shower, 35 weeks and 4 days.

The next weekend we went to Sam A. Baker for our annual family trip. All my cousins/siblings trying to have a belly like me! 36 weeks and 4 days.

This is 37 weeks and 1 day!

This is 37 weeks and 1 day bare belly!

You can't see me in this really, but this is the day after my shower. It is my bff, Ashley's shower that her mom, our friend Emily, and I threw for her while she was home from New York.

Ashley and I at my shower!! She didn't wear a very belly revealing shirt, but as you can see in the pic above she really is pregnant! :)

Ashley's cake!! The only picture I took of her whole shower. :(

Beautiful decor at my shower from my sister and Patty! There were thank you cards, cookies, and advice cards/tree at this table!

Food table- My mom did an AWESOME job on her big fruit piece!

Cute cupcakes and drink table! Love the mason jars! :)

Ashley-Me-Emily at my shower

My sister-me-my mom at my shower

**Sorry those pictures were in such a random order but it was too much work to move them all around, sorry! I felt so blessed to have two awesome showers- we got so many good things and a lot of necessities too, which makes Pete a happy man!

**My appointment's have been going smoothly for the most part. We had a little bump in the road around 34 weeks. We went in for our normal Thursday appointment and when she went to listen to the heartbeat about 10 beats in there was a little jump sound. It was so clear that Pete and I both heard it. Our doctor wasn't nervous at all, but wanted us to come back the next day to listen again and see if it was gone. Apparently, it is pretty common for a heart arrhythmia to pop up in the later part of pregnancy. Regardless, it was very scary to hear anything could be wrong and it was a rough 24 hours for us. We went back the next morning and our doctor was out doing due to a delivery so the nurse practitioner came in and listened and it was still there so we had to sit and wait for Dr. Cugini to get back and tell us what she wanted us to do. The ultrasound tech that is normally in their office was conveniently out of town for the whole weekend, so we had to go to the hospital to do an hour of external monitoring and get a biophysical profile done. Registration was a disaster, but once we got to the OB floor the nurse was very nice and informative. She said she hears them quite a bit, and usually after birth they are gone and can't even be heard by the pediatrician. After spending practically the whole day at the hospital, Dr. Cugini read the monitoring and decided that she wanted us to go see a specialist. Hearing that news made my heart hurt so bad. That weekend I had my baby shower and put on a brave face, but had a hard time telling 40 people that everything was okay because I did not want to have to explain the situation 40x and plus, we really didn't know if anything was wrong or not. Pete and I had many conversations that weekend about how crazy it that everyone tells you that you won't understand the amount of worry you will have for a child until you have one of your own. Boy, were "they" right. We prayed so much that all would be okay with our baby girl. We knew it was in the Lord's hands and HE is in control. I do not know what I would have done without Pete. He is my rock. He has such a calming spirit, positive attitude, and encouraging personality. The Lord knew exactly what he was doing when he put us in each others paths because I don't know where I would be without having him to turn to. I never, ever want to take him for granted. Okay, back to the story..the next Tuesday we had our appointment with the specialist. First off, the doctor is the one who did the ultrasound and went through every little detail with us. Stopped on everything, pointed out what each thing was, explained what he was looking for, etc. He even took a picture of the hair on her head and gave us a free 3D picture, which showed off baby girl's butt chin just like her mama. :) Although, I am very happy we didn't really know why we were there other than the fact that our baby had a heart arrhythmia and we needed to check and find out what type it was. When he got to the heart and said well I do not see any fluid around any parts of the heart, so you are clear from fetal heart failure. I looked over at Pete in shock. If I would have known that was the reason we were going there before my anxiety would have been out.of.the.roof. He thought everything looked great and said she will have the arrhythmia until she was born and maybe for a while after, but it will not affect her in any way. Praise the Lord. We left there so encouraged and thankful for the good results. We have been back to the doctor 3-4 times since then and you can still hear it for sure, but if the doctors say it is okay, then that is what we have to trust in.

**I had my 37 week appointment today and I am almost dilated to a two and pretty much all the way effaced. She said it was so much that she couldn't give me an exact percent. She all said that last week she could still push the baby's head up and it would move and this week it didn't go back up at all! All good news! We could have a baby any day now!

**I have really been feeling good. I only had a few weeks that she was high enough for it to be uncomfortable to sit or breathe. She has definitely dropped!!! My feet and hands are pretty puffy all the time now. I can't get my rings on anymore. First time I have went without them since we got married!

**Pete and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary on the 16th of this month. We just kept saying how crazy it is how important we made our 1st anniversary and this year, our lives have changed so much that November 13th is the date that has our attention now. Plus, the first year of marriage was not easy for us. Getting adjusted to living together is a hard, hard thing. Where as this past year has been so fun for us! We are adjusted to each other and have our own life together now and it feels good to look back on the past year and see how far we have came together! I can't imagine what next year is going to look like considering we are going to have a baby who is about to turn 1!! ah!

**We are still waiting until baby girl is born to decide on a name. Although I did tell Pete a few weeks ago that if I had to decide that second I knew which one I wanted to go with. My thoughts have not changed from that either, so that's pretty exciting. Thinking about her with a name is a lot more fun than without, but it will be worth the wait of a few more weeks!

**I really do not want a Halloween baby. At. All.

That is all I can think of right now. I am going to try to get a nursery reveal post finished (for real!!), a post on what/how I want my labor to go (this is the point when anyone who has had a child can go ahead and laugh, but I just want to have my thought wrote down before and after), and my sister told me I should do a post of my day now so I can do one once I have the baby and see what has changed. So I have a busy next few days! :)

xoxo,

Erin

28 weeks

My sister in law got my that shirt in the picture above, and I just love it! :) I know you can't read it because I am terrible at taking pictures, but it says "expecting adventure" :) So cute!

How far along? 28 weeks!!

Size of the baby? According to babycenter, "By this week, your baby weighs two and a quarter pounds (like a Chinese cabbage) and measures 14.8 inches from the top of her head to her heels. She can blink her eyes, which now sport lashes. With her eyesight developing, she may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. She's also developing billions of neurons in her brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world."

Food Cravings? I have been eating a lot of salads this week! Can't get enough!

What I miss: I have really noticed this past week that the small day to day tasks are getting a lot harder! Putting on my shoes, getting up from the couch, shaving my legs, you know..the things that you normally do without even thinking about.

 Stretch marks? I have a few on my boobs (TMI) but nothing major, yet.

Maternity Clothes? Shout out to my amazing mother in law for ordering me at least 7 new shirts from a few of her suppliers! They are so comfortable and are going to last a long time! She also snuck in a few things for baby girl, so exciting!!

Gender? GIRL!

Weight Gain? Had a doctors appt this past Friday, and I am up 4 more pounds, which is 2 per week. I have said it before and I am probably going to say it again but, I am not worrying about the number until after the baby is born. As long as I am staying healthy and the baby is growing like she should, I am not going to worry too much. (It takes convincing from my husband though, to stay in this mind set after every doctor appt! ha!)

Sleep? I have been sleeping alright. Besides getting up a few times to go to the bathroom now, I am doing alright. My hips have also been really bothering me. By 8am I have to get up because they are just throbbing.  

Best moment of the week? This past Monday was my sisters annual birthday shopping trip with my aunts and mom (every year since we turned 10) and since she moved to STL, I get to tag along on her trip also! I finally gave in and bought my first piece of clothing for baby girl! I am so proud of myself for waiting this long! Of course we had to get matching outfits for the little cousins!! :) 

Symptoms? My feet and hands are really swollen by the end of the night, especially if I have been super busy that day! 

Movement? It is getting stronger and more frequent and I am loving every minute. I can also feel little body parts when she stretches because sometimes its a huge lump and then sometimes its just a little knob like feeling, which I am assuming is her feet. :) Makes me smile. 

xoxo,

Erin

27 Weeks

sorry for the bad quality! Pete took a different one, but for some reason it won't load correctly! Red pants AGAIN! AH!

How far along? 27 weeks!!

Size of the baby? According to babycenter, "this week, your baby weighs almost 2 pounds (like a head of cauliflower) and is about 14 1/2 inches long with her legs extended. She's sleeping and waking at regular intervals, opening and closing her eyes, and perhaps even sucking her fingers. With more brain tissue developing, your baby's brain is very active now. While her lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with a lot of medical help — if she were to be born now."

Food Cravings? I really have been craving sweet things and that is so unlike me! I am obsessed with candy, but mainly sour candies, not sweet, chocolate candy and for some reason that is what I have wanted lately. 

What I miss: My mom and I went to Kohl's yesterday, and I walked through all the new fall clothes that are out and I can say that I miss being able to dress cute and have lots of options. I am not someone who finds 5 things they like and get it in every color and wear it all the time. I like to mix it up and not wear the same thing too often. Pregnancy has changed this about me, for the time being. I just do not have a whole lot of options and don't want to go spend the money on new things that I know I can only wear them a few more months!

 Stretch marks? I have a few on my boobs (TMI) but nothing major, yet.

Maternity Clothes? Like I said above, I have enough to get me by, but not as many options as I would like!

Gender? GIRL!

Weight Gain? Well...I only gained 1 pound in the past 2 weeks, so I was happy about that! I am currently up..drum roll please...28 pounds! I did have my glucose and iron tests and all the results came back totally normal, so I am just focusing on that good news and not on the number!

Sleep? I think I jinxed myself last week. Last night I felt like I was awake all night. My brain never went to sleep. Plus, my side is starting to hurt from always having to lay on it! haha.

Best moment of the week? Getting a good result on my tests at the doctor and just feeling baby girl move around. She took a few days off from the hard kicking and it really had me worried. I am happy in the past few days she is back to her busy self! Praise the Lord!

Symptoms? My feet always feel "tired" now and I am still pretty tired feeling all the time! 

Movement? I think she has moved to a totally different position then she has been in the whole time because I didn't feel her kick hardly at all Saturday night and Sunday and then I started feeling little ones again on Monday, but they felt more internal. I know that sounds weird, but before her feet were very obvious and I could feel/see when she pushed her butt against my stomach and I can't feel any of that anymore. I will be ready to go to the doctor again next week so that she didn't flip somewhere she's not suppose to be! :S

xoxo,

Erin

26 Weeks!

It seems like the weeks are flying by! We finally have the nursury looking like a baby room and I could not be more excited about it! It is turning out exactly as planned! :) My sister's bff, Kelley, offered to make me the big thing with her name on it, and since Pete and I have decided (as of yesterday) to wait until she is born to choose a name, that will not be here before she is born. Owell, I just need to decide what I want to do on the other walls and focus on that! The room is pretty small, so I do not want it to be too crowded, but I have a few ideas :) I will do a whole post on a nusury update soon!

This was at 25 weeks and 5 days! :)

How far along? 26 weeks!!

Size of the baby?

Food Cravings? Anything and everything! Ha, I honestly have been trying to eat better the past few weeks so everything "bad" that I don't want to eat sounds delcious. Go figure.

What I miss: I am honestly not missing too much these days. I am really enjoying being pregnant and all that goes with it! I have felt so blessed lately that God gave me the opportunity to have children. It is such an amazing thing and I don't want to complain or miss too much, because some people never get this feeling and that makes me really, really sad.

 Stretch marks? I have a few on my boobs (TMI) but nothing major, yet.

Maternity Clothes? My sister gave me a bunch more dresses (shirts for me ;)) that I have been wearing with the 3 pairs of shorts that I have. I have also been wearing the same 3 maxi dresses like crazy (SO unlike me). Old Navy was also running a sale and I got those red jeans in the picture above, which I love! I love that they are coming out with stylish maternity clothes, it honestly is a great confidence booster. I also bought a pair of maternity leggings (in order to get free shipping) and I am sure I will get plenty of use out of those in the coming months.

Gender? GIRL! Like I mentioned above, Pete and I were talking about different things yesterday and I made him have the name conversation. He finally expressed that he wants to wait until she is born to pick between Eleanor or Zetta. He said either one will be perfect, so why rush it. ;) Such a man, but I do not mind to wait either, it is such a hard decision for me and honestly probably won't even know when she comes out. Even though everyone says we will just know when we see her. That comment is so weird to me and I guess it's one of those things you can't picture saying/doing until you are actually experiencing it. Reguardless, it's still weird.

Weight Gain? Yikes. We are gonna leave this one blank until I go to the doctor Friday. :)

Sleep? I have been sleeping great!! I am becoming pretty tired throughout the day again though, so that is not too much fun. I have been going to bed pretty early, but I have also been waking up around 7:30-8 every morning without an alarm. Well, a noise alarm, I do have a different kind of alarm in my belly, that's for sure!!! :)

Best moment of the week? I didn't post last week, so my best moment's of the past few weeks would be that my mom and MIL got to feel her kick and Pete and pretty much feel it anytime he puts his hand on my belly! When we were at our check up, she was listening to the heartbeat and baby girl was moving so much she could barely get a read on the heartrate! She is very active! I also love that my MIL brought over the dresser she finished and it looks SO AMAZING and my parents brought over the crib so the room is no longer empty. Also, Pete and I were at Lowe's walking through all the lights and I pointed to the chandilier that I wanted and he said that he wants something that sits closer to the ceiling and didn't think we needed a chandalier. I said whatever and dropped it. Well, I came home the other night and there was a big box is the room...it was the chandalier :) I was super excited! He is going to have no shot when she is born. She is going to get anything she wants because she will figure out real quick that daddy cannot say no to his sweet girl! :) At least he admits it. hehe.

Symptoms? Not too much. Tired and hungry, but I feel like that is normal when I am not pregnant. haha.

Movement? I think I already answered this in all my super wordy responses above!

xoxo,

Erin



23 Weeks 1 Day

*For some reason Blogger jumbles up all my sentance's after I post them and I do not know how to fix it!! They all look normal in my draft, but when I preview it or post it, it is all messed up, so I am sorry about it!*

How far along? 23 Weeks 1 Day

Size of the baby? 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound! Her sense of movement is well developed by now, and she can feel me move and dance.

Food Cravings? I still am really enjoying soup, but i have found myself wanting sweet things this week also! I have resisted the temptation more than I have given in, just an FYI! :)


What I miss: a good margarita, I was at a friends wedding this weekend and that was the first
time I have missed alcohol. Terrible to say, but it is the truth!

Stretch Marks? Still only 3! I am putting lotion on like its my job!


Maternity Clothes? I have gotten a few more things from different friends, they are so sweet to let me borrow so I do not have to buy anymore! Although, I did get new undies and bras this week and that made me feel like a new woman! ha, so comfortable not being so tight everywhere!!

Gender? It's a GIRL!!

Weight Gain:  Still up 20 I am assuming, I go to the doctor next Thursday.

Sleep? I am getting more tired during the day than I have in the past month or so, but nothing too exhausting. I have been getting terrible legs cramps, so that's no fun.

Best Moment of the Week: I would have to say the kicks again! They are so strong! I was in NYC with some of my best friends over the weekend. They all got the chance to feel her kick, it was fun to share with them!

Symptoms: Leg cramps and I have been so thirsty. I can't get enough water!!

Movement? We have a very active little girl on our hands! She kicks up a storm, espically at night! I can lay on the couch and feel her kicking for 30 minutes straight! In the past week I has gotten so much stronger that you can see it from the outside. I am ready for her to kick during the day though, my mother is dying to feel it! :)

Names and Nurserys

I have always thought that when I have a little girl, her nursery is going to be super girly and pink all over the place. So when I first got pregnant and naturally started thinking about the room, I just had two totally different plans depending on the sex. I thought I had it all figured out. But, then I found the rocker that I knew I wanted, no matter boy or girl, and that changed everything.

Once we got that, I still thought that I would make it super girly with tulle and ruffles everywhere. Now that I know it's a girl, I pulled everything back up for the girls room and I just couldn't bring myself to do it. That's just not me. I am not a super girly person, never have been never will be. Let's be honest, I have my hair up every single day of my life and am mad when I can't wear a sports bra. Therefore, I thought I can't make a nursery for my baby girl like looks like she is raised by a girly diva, Bc we are far from that. And her room will be just as far, but I could not be more excited about the plan!!!! I am currently looking for old barn wood to make with her (undecided) name on it. It will look similar to this, only with her monogram painted in pink(see, it's not all tom boy) and without that decorative vine.

Then we are using the crib me and my siblings used when we were kids. (side note: I understand some people are going to freak about this. My dad is bolting it up to where it will be up to standards. I looked into it).

I couldn't find a better picture, but this is the exact crib...

Then the dresser is Pete's step dads first dresser that he ever had as a kid and they aren't using it and I fell in love with it! I am so thankful that he is willing to let baby girl have that. :) My MIL is painting the base ivory, but leaving the drawers the original wood just re staining them so they look fresh.

The dresser looks similar to this, but has more detail on the drawers

I am a little worried though, Bc all the furniture is pretty large and the room is defiantly on the smaller side. It is going to be cramped, but i think once we get it all in there and play around with it, we will find a way that works. That is as far as we have gotten right now, but I am excited to start getting it all set up!

Now for the name. We just can't decide. We had a boys name nailed down, but not a girls. We narrowed it down to 2 girl choices before we found out the sex, and haven't really discussed it since then. I think we are both just thinking about it for a while and getting other peoples opinions (I know, horrible idea ;)) The decision is between Eleanor(Nora) Mae Ressler or Zetta Mae Ressler. Zetta Mae is my great grandmothers name. I originally said I wanted my daughters name to be Eleanor and Pete and I both loved it. But, there are so many little girls right now with names that begin with El and that stresses me out. One of my best friends is named Erin and I just don't want that confusion for my child and the people she will hangout with. Plus, I loveee Eleanor, but hate the thought that people are going to try to call her Ellie. (I know that is dumb, but you have to think about these things!!) So IF people try to shorten it, which they will, I want her to be called Nora. I love that also but don't like that her name is Eleanor yet she goes by Nora. Grr, I don't know why I let it bother me so much, but I do. That is the total reason we have not made a decision yet. I just don't want her to have to correct people her whole life. Which Pete doesn't feel this way, and he thinks it is no big deal. I guess I should just trust him on that because he has done it his whole life, so he would know more than me. (Charles Peter Ressler) :) soooooo that is where we are at on those two subjects. Sorry for the long post, I typed it while I was on the plane to New York, so I really let my feelings out. Haha!

Now let's get this party started! I will be back on Monday unless I get super bored while I am here, then I might post a few times. ;)

xoxo,

Erin