First Photo Shoot

Our good friend came over to the house a while back to get some pictures of our little family...George and the cats were left out of this one as we wanted Dan to leave in one piece and to avoid mass chaos. Here are a few of our favorites. We're looking forward to our 1 year anniversary/family photo shoot with Josh MCCullock sometime this summer.

Road Trips, Doctors Appointments, First Dates & Golf

We have had a busy & informative last few weeks. We went down to Dallas twice last week, once for my appointment with the colorectal surgeon (still waiting to see how everything heals before he decides if reconstructive surgery is necessary) and then the next day for Ella's appointment. Our poor Ella has been having a horrible time with reflux.  We have learned that babies who have a traumatic birth are more likely to have reflux and need chiropractic adjustments so we took her down to Highland Village to see a chiropractor who works on tiny humans.  Her adjustment seemed to go well and he said she had a lot to work on, when he was done there were visible changes to her little ribcage; we go back down this week for a follow up.  The best part was, while we were down there we also got to visit with some friends and their new baby boy Reid who was born the day after Ella.

Olivia & I with our babies....who would have ever thought?!?!?

First Date. There is an arranged marriage in the future for these two.

We have also found that Ella does well on road trips but she does not like a slow driver.  So be advised, if you're driving Miss Ella you better go faster than 65 mph!! 

Yesterday was a big day as Ella turned 6 weeks old!!!  We celebrated by heading over to visit PaPa D & DanDan at Falconhead. 

Daddy & Daughter's first golf outing

Ella seemed to love being outside on the course

 

We're hoping this isn't a referral!

Ella was full of advice for PaPa D

Today we went to the pediatrician because she was having some issues we were concerned about.  It turns out that Ella is allergic to the protien in milk.....cows & mine!  The benefits of breastfeeding outweigh the side effects and we are giving 2 meds now for the reflux as well as some cream for the skin reaction.  Poor baby girl is a tough one!  Hopefully we can get things under control so she's not hurting and uncomfortable all the time. 

So we can have less moments like these

And more like these

My First Mother's Day Weekend & other updates

This weekend was my very first Mother's Day.  I used to hate Mother's Day.  Don't get me wrong, I have a WONDERFUL mother and loved celebrating her and all the things she did for my brother and I, but as far as me personally;  I hated Mother's Day.  As a woman in my late 20's and early 30's who did not have a child I always felt like people were thinking "What's wrong with her? Why doesn't she have kids?"  Those feelings intensified after someone literally asked my mother what was wrong with me and why didn't I have any kids. (Yes, that actually happened, and at church no less) So each year I would go to church and sit through the service while they gave flowers to every other woman in the room and looked at me with those "you'll understand when you have kids" eyes.  Stupid eyes.

As you can probably guess, I had become bitter.  I looked forward to the day when I would become a mother but I wasn't getting any younger.  I don't know the pain of infertility but I can imagine some women who struggle with it must hate Mother's Day far worse than I did.  Even as I hold my beautiful baby girl on my very first Mother's Day I have a love/hate relationship with the day.  I love that it celebrates mommies and the love they have for their children but I hate how it only focuses on the mommies who can hold their babies.  There are a lot of women out there who already feel like mommies, they long to hold their babies, they just don't know how their children will come into their life.  Will God allow them to grow their children in their tummy or will they be sent their children through "first mothers" (got that term from reading more adoption blogs than I can count)?  I used to wonder the same thing and my dear friends daughter must have noticed because she called me a mommy who didn't have any babies.  I thought that was a great compliment.

Well now I'm officially a mommy with a beautiful baby girl and I had a fantastic First Mother's Day Weekend!  On Saturday I went to visit my mom and she seemed to be doing better.  When I looked in her eyes I saw my mom and not a stranger, it was a wonderful blessing and I am so thankful that God gave me that gift.

The rest of our weekend went like this.....

Ella's "big brother" Dean came to see her

 

Later that day we left Ella with our friends the Willrich's and went on our first post baby date

We had a great time and although we missed our girl we look forward to many more date nights!!

On Sunday we relaxed and had a great day at home with our sweet baby girl. I got flowers from Scott, Ella, Fanny, George, Cecil & Polly

and from my amazing in-laws

I held her a little longer and stole a few more kisses than usual and it was awesome.  We took a family picture but as usually Fanny refuses to look at the camera.

In other news; Ella had her first rescue who was VERY sick and went to DFW pug rescue (you can click on the link to donate or adopt).  

She also met a baby horse who was born 2 weeks before she was.  

We had a horrible evening with reflux one night but since I made some diet changes she seems to be doing better but that night broke our hearts.  

That's what the Courter's have been up to!  We are looking forward to getting the professional pictures back, Ella's first trip to visit Poppa D & Dan Dan at Falconhead and a visit from Grammy and PaPa Courter, Uncle Adam, Aunt Jill and cousins Pierson & Kendal.  So lots more pictures are coming!  We are NOT looking forward to me going back to work.

Until next time!

Ella is ONE month old!!!

Okay she is technically 5 weeks old today....I'm a little behind!

2 weeks has never gone so fast!!

Ella is now 2 weeks old and in some ways it feels like she was born yesterday & in other ways we can't remember life before she came.  It's strange, and we both still look at her in amazement and can not believe she's ours; although with all the problems her delivery caused my "nether regions", I'm not sure how I can ever forget she's mine!  In the last 2 weeks we have had multiple doctors appointments, a meeting with a colorectal surgeon, visits with family & friends, one Southeastern softball game, one prescription for reflux, a few sleepless nights, an unknown number of diaper changes, two baths (for Ella), more pictures taken than we can count, and one walk with big sister Fanny.

Sweet Ella loves bath time but hates getting out

Ella & Fanny

It has been so fun getting to know her, learning what she likes and doesn't like, but our favorite thing has been to just spend time together as a new family.  A lot of the time, we just stare at her and discuss how beautiful she is, who she might grow up to be, things we're scared of doing (my big fear is accidentally hitting her head on a door frame), and how blessed we are to have this perfect little healthy person.

 The Courter ladies

Scott & his baby girl

We used disposable diapers for the first week and a half and then saw that her little tushy was starting show signs of a diaper rash so we switched to Fuzzi Bunz.  We LOVE them!  No sign of diaper rash, they are holding up better than regular diapers, laundry is super easy, it looks like they are more comfortable for her, and they are adorable!!  She has been very good at self soothing until the reflux started and now she really needs her pacifier at times.  As you probably know, I'm not a big fan of pharmaceuticals but I know how bad heartburn hurts and I understand what's happening; poor little Ella is in pain and has no idea what's happening to her.  She LOVES her bassinet and sleeps great in it.  She also likes her BabyBjorn Babysitter Balance and we look forward to seeing her play in it as she gets bigger.

Ella napping in her bassinet

Hanging out in the baby bjorn

We just love our little Ella Louise and are having a wonderful time getting to know her. Here are some pictures of Ella with some of her family.

Poppa D and his favorite future golfer

Ella & PaPa Courter "resting their eyes"

Grammy & PaPa Courter with their newest grandbaby

Ella knew Uncle Chip would love her onesie

Uncle Lyle & Aunt Dilda came down from KC to meet Ella

And last but  not least, Ella and her very best friend

Baby Courter is Finally Here!!!!!

IT'S A GIRL!!!!  We are thrilled to announce the birth of Ella Louise Courter; she was born 4/4/11 at 6:50pm weighing 8 pounds 8 ounces and 20 inches long.  Her birth was more dramatic than we would have liked as Ella was in the posterior position (sunny side up) and had shoulder dystocia but she is here and both Ella and Beth are doing great.  If you would like to know all the details we are happy to share, it's just not blog appropriate. 

If you are wondering how we came up with her name, Ella is the name of Beth's Great Grandmother and the Louise comes from Scott's side where there are various forms of the name, most notably is the name of Ella's Grammy, Barbara Lou.  We love that her name is a mixture of our families and we know that she will love that when she gets older.  

And now to what everyone wants.....PICTURES!!!!!!!

Ella's very first bath, safe in Daddy's hands!

All cleaned up and pretty with her bow!

There will be more pictures to come but we are going to get some rest while we can.  Thank you for all the prayers and well wishes.  We can't wait for everyone to meet her.....we think she's pretty amazing!

40 weeks 3 days and still counting!

Well, since we have no baby yet we decided to add some pics of monkey's room.  We love how it turned out with all the bright colors and look forward to adding personalized touches once we meet the person who will be sleeping in there!  So here are some pictures!!

All dressed up & nowhere to go! Our due date pictures....holding a baby but not the one we thought. 

Everyone's ready!!

At today's doctors appointment, Dr. Nabors told us we needed to think about an induction date in case this tiny human refuses to leave on his/her own.  We were hoping to wait until the 11th but that date was already booked.  Drum roll please........that means that if this child of ours doesn't come on it's own we will go into the hospital the night of the 3rd to start the induction process and should be meeting the newest Courter on Monday April 4th, just in time to watch the National Championship with daddy!!  Stay tuned, an introduction is coming!!!