A Thanksgiving to Remember!

The past two weeks have been very exhausting and very fun!  I have so much to be thankful for: great family and friends, a perfect, healthy baby and wonderful husband!  My mom has been visiting for the past two weeks to help Chris and I and we have been spoiled with her around.  She has been helping with Elliott, cooking amazing meals and helping us with laundry and cleaning.  I do not want her to leave!  Elliott went on his first shopping trip and did not make a peep.  Elliott rolled over 3 times today- I'm thinking that he will be crawling and moving more very soon.  We had a fantastic Thanksgiving with the Piekos and Gross family at our new house with our new baby.  Thank you to everyone who came to our house and made great food! 

Reading a book with "Nan" and "Chief"



Grandpa Bob and Grandma Liz



Great Grandma Rose and Great Grandpa Earl

Uncle Matt

Aunt Lisa

Bundled up for a shopping trip



Elliott Michael Piekos - Welcome to the World!

Elliott Michael Piekos arrived at 1:21 pm on Monday November 15th.  He is 7 pounds 6 ounces and 22.25 inches long!  It was quite a process getting into the world, but everyone is healthy and doing well.  I started feeling contractions at 1 am on Saturday, but wasn't sure if this was the real thing.  I called the hospital and they said only to come in if the contractions were consistently 3-5 minutes apart.  36 hours later, the contractions were consistent and painful but only around 8 minutes apart, so they asked that I come in.  I was 1 cm dilated and given some great meds to ease the pain and be monitored.  I continued to dilate, slowly so was admitted.  After pitocin, an epidural, later even a stronger epidural and, 3.5 hours of pushing, Elliott finally arrived!  Chris was extremely patient throughout the entire labor, he was there for chapstick and ice and tons of movivation the whole time.  We are so happy and excited to finally meet our little person.  We have been trying to rest and adjust to our new lifestyle as parents.  My mom is staying with us to help and she has been a huge help to us!  We can't wait to introduce Elliott to all of our friends and family!  Thank you to everyone for all of the support and good thoughts.  Here are some of the first pictures!

1 More Day to Go...

I'm getting very anxious to meet Baby P!  I had a doctor appointment yesterday and there are still no signs of Baby P arriving any time soon.  I took a few vacation days and have been spending time just relaxing around the house and getting some projects and cleaning done.  I will post when I have more exciting details about Baby P!

Baby P: Please arrive soon!

I have 7 days to go until my official due date.  I have been going to weekly doctors appointments and there are no signs of getting this baby arriving before the due date.   I am really uncomfortable and since everything is ready, I wouldn't mind if I had the baby today.  There are some great birth dates coming up... 11/10/10 and 11/11/10 would be nice and easy to remember.  11/12/10 is Liz's birthday so that would be a great birthday present for the soon-to-be grandma.  According to my sister, more babies are born on or near full moons; the next full moon is November 21st (please arrive before then!!).  More and more people keep telling me it looks like I'm carrying a boy, and I took an internet quiz this weekend which the results said I'm having a boy.  I can't wait to find out!!  The weather was absolutely gorgeous this weekend and we spent Saturday in the city with some of our friends and celebrating Liz's birthday in the suburbs.

39 Weeks!

Bob telling a story

Matt is single...ladies, know any single gals?!

Halloween

We had a great Halloween weekend!  Chris carved a pumpkin, using his elaborate techniques for creating words in the mouth.  Fall has been beautiful and we have so many leaves changing color in our yard.  Chris has been working hard to keep up with the leaves.  This year our costumes were very last minute, as we weren't even sure if we were going to dress up, based on my situation!  Since I couldn't do the usual fun, glamourous costume, I decided to go all out and be a large and in-charge, beer-drinking man!  Chris went as "Cigar Guy".   We had one last night of fun in the city with our friends.  On Halloween our friends came over with thier son for Trick or Treating.  It was a great day and fun to see so many cute kids out and about!



                                                                                Go to Youtube.com for funny videos of Cigar Guy!



                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

15 Days and Counting!

I am 15 days away from my due date!  I have been slow to post because I feel like I have been doing so many things to prepare for Baby P!  I have such great friends and family, thank you all for the showers, gifts and nice things you have done to help.  Everything on the checklist is complete....  we have the car seat installed, the nursery is finished and all kinds of baby clothes, blankets and supplies ready!  The doctor says everything is going well and on track- the head is down and in position.  I really am ready for this baby to come out and will be eating spicy food as often as possible, just in case that helps!  I went ahead and made a doctors appointment for after my due date- I figure if I have the appointment I won't need it.  Chris and I are going out for Halloween for one last hurrah before Baby P arrives- pictures coming soon.  Here are some recent photos of the nursery, showers, and belly!

Week 36

Parker was a great helper!

Week 37

"Where are you going to run to, there is no stopping the baby now!"

This weekend, Chris and I decided we should visit the hospital where I plan to have the baby.  We were with several other couples on a tour and one of the husbands asked how he might be able to "run out real quick", instead of going through the security doors.... this is when Chris said loudly, "Dude, where are you going to run to?.. there is no stopping the baby now!," to which everyone was laughing!  Central Dupage is a nice hospital -complete with valet parking- and is very close to our house.   We are putting the final touches our nursery and giving it some personal touches with some old baby photos.  Here are a couple of flashbacks when we were babies, along with some recent family photos, courtesy of Erik Photography.