Motherhood is wonderful!

1. WAS YOUR PREGNANCY PLANNED?
Completely planned!

2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME?
Yes, to my wonderful husband, Josh! The best husband a wife could hope for :)

3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS?
We felt extremely blessed and were soooo excited!

4. WAS ABORTION AN OPTION FOR YOU?
Absolutely not

5. HOW OLD WERE YOU?
26

6. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT?
Well since it was planned we just took a test (or 4) to find out. I think it was Easter Sunday when we took the final test!

7. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST?
Our families

8. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX?
No, we wanted to be surprised!

9. DUE DATE?
Thanksgiving Day ~ November 27, 2008

10. DID YOU DELIVER EARLY OR LATE?
Early, she was born November 23

11. WHERE DID YOUR WATER BREAK?
At home

12. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE?
Fruit

13. WHO IRRITATED YOU THE MOST?
All the people with negative thoughts about pregnancy and raising a child

14. WHAT WAS YOUR CHILDS SEX?
GIRL!!!

15. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING?
No, but the majority guessed it was gonna be a boy....all of the predictors said boy so we were REALLY surprised it was a girl! We just couldn't believe it! I'm very happy to have our darling queen!

16. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY?
22 lbs



17. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER?
Yes, we were fortunate and so grateful to have 4!

18. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW?
We knew

19. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY?
No, it was a great pregnancy!

20.WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH?

Birth and Women's Center in Dallas!

Delivering there was such an amazing experience! The center is absolutely beautiful and the staff is incredible!

21. HOW MAY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR?
Contractions started at 1am, water broke at 1:30am, and she was delivered at 6:56am! So a total of 5hrs, 56min!

22.WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL?
My hubby! Luckily it was in the wee hours of the morning so there was NO ONE on the roads!

23.WHO WATCHED?
Josh, Carol (the midwife), Beverly and Sara (the birth assistants), and Carter (the best photographer in all the land!)

24.WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION?
natural

25.DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN?
Nope, completely unmedicated

26.HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH?
a petite 6lbs 14oz

27.DID YOUR CHILD HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS?
nope - perfect

28.WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER?
Cecelia Raine





29. HOW OLD IS YOUR CHILD TODAY?
2 months, 13 days (10wks, 4days)

Mommy's (and Daddy's) Little Joy!

Bumbo

Big girl in her big girl seat!

Superbowl

We went to Josh's parents house to watch the game. We munched on burgers, hot dogs, rotel dip, and bbq weenies. For dessert we had Ritz Pecan pie (yummy!) and chocolate pie (equally yummy!).

I was hoping for a great game and it was!

We had a great time and CeCe was dressed for the occasion :)


My favorite commercial here!

Where's the chicken?

My wonderful friend Becki inspired me to also write about my recent cooking ventures after reading her post here.

I would say I'm an average cook. I'm no Paula Deen but I can read directions and execute them properly. Josh would say I'm really good at it but I think maybe that comes from him only really knowing how to make mac 'n cheese and a couple of other things that he would probably eat on a daily basis if I didn't cook (which actually might be ok with him but nonetheless he still likes to eat my cookin').

Over the past few weeks we've been delving into our finances because we are planning to and are sooooo close to being able to pay off all of our credit cards (another post for another time) and realized we spent WAY to much money on crap food. Throughout my entire pregnancy and the first month thereafter I had no desire to cook and sometimes it's just hard to cook for two so we would just pick up food here and there. And now I'm just sick of it all. I also want to get back in the habit of cooking at home because it not only saves money but it's also good for family quality time!

My mom and I took a trip up to Arkansas to visit my sister a few weeks ago. She and her husband cook every night. Most of the time they are quick and easy meals but they also mix in some really good homecookin' nights. So when we got back I was so ready to get groceries and cook some grub! I called my sister to get some ideas and with list in hand we went to the store.

Of the almost $200 worth of groceries was a nice big pack of chicken tenderloins that I was excited to bake sometime that week. We got home and to make room for the new stuff I took out the old stuff and put it on the counter for Josh to empty and put in the trash while I finish putting up the groceries. I leave the chicken out because I planned on placing each tenderloin in its own bag to freeze so when we were ready to eat it we could just thaw out what we needed. Well I finished putting the groceries up and moved on to something completely forgetting about the chicken.

The next day rolls around and I remembered that I never divided up the chicken nor did I remember putting it in fridge or freezer. So I'm thinking where the heck is the chicken? I looked in the fridge and freezer (hoping Josh put it up) and could not find it. Well turns out Josh put it up alright....IN THE TRASH! Not once did it ever dawn on him that throwing the 'brand-spanking-new-right-there-when-I-put-it-in-the-grocery-basket-unopened chicken' in the trash along with the old stuff out of the fridge was the wrong thing to do. UUUUGGGGHHHH!

The only thing that got me through it without making him go back up to the store and get more chicken (besides me not trusting that he would get the right thing) was knowing that I had all the ingredients for some homemade chili that I was equally...maybe even a little more... excited about cooking. So I made the chili and all was right with the world!

I nibbled on the chili all week long. It was sooooo deee.lish! I also made a sausage and baked potato dinner that was pretty good and worth making again!

I'm looking forward to keeping up with this cooking kick so I welcome any and all good, easy, and cheap recipes!

p.s. thanks Becki

Goodbye 2008 :)

Well it's time to change the first thing people see when reading this blog (picture of CeCe flipping the camera off) so I thought I would go ahead and write another post!

We had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends! And we decided to stay in and enjoy the comforts of home as we ring in the new year :)

What a great year 2008 has been to me! I have had the wonderful pleasure of spending another great year with my wonderful husband and we welcomed our gift from God, Cecelia! I'm so in love with my family :) CeCe is now a month and 8 days old and I have loved every second of being a mommy. It's amazing how many changes she's gone through so far that I can hardly wait for the many, many more to come. She's beginning to smile, has started 'talking' a lot more, and has accumulated a double chin, 3 fat rolls in her neck, and she no longer has knuckles! This makes me so proud because it is the nourishment that my body provides her that is making all of that happen! God is GREAT!

Although I don't think much about resolutions for the new year, I will say that my goal is to be the best wife and mom I can be and my relationship with God continues to grow!

Happy New Year and God Bless!

Don't make her mad!

Our Angel is 3 Weeks Old Today :)

Merry Christmas!

3 Weeks :)

Sleeping Beauty

I love how her legs are all curled up!

Isn't she beautiful :)

She's a Lady.........Our Miracle is here!

We welcomed Cecelia Raine Allen into the world on Sunday, November 23 at 6:56am. She weighed 6 lbs, 14 oz and was 19.5 inches long. We had a wonderful delivery! I started having contractions at 1am, water broke at 1:30 and about an hour later we were off to the birth center. We arrived there at 3:15am and I was dilated to a 5. I labored for a little bit while our midwife was getting the bath ready. I was in the bath for a little over an hour and in that time I dilated to a 10 and started to push. She wasn't descending so I had to get out and push squatting holding onto the bed post for what seemed like forever. I think this was the hardest part of the labor because I was running out of energy (having been awake for almost a day at that point). I pushed her down enough to where she started to crown. They transferred me to the bed where I delivered her a couple of sets of pushes later. Josh caught her, announced she was a girl (we couldn't believe it!) and put her on my chest. We left the birth center for home at about 4:30 that afternoon.

We are adjusting well...taking it day by day! We feel truly blessed to have such a sweet daughter.

Here are some pictures:

First Bath

Car Ride Home