Welcome Elise Lee Muckerheide!!!

Elise and Addie at her newborn photoshoot

One of Elise's photos from her newborn photoshoot

Loving Elise

Our first family photo...sans Addie

Sweet little Elise arrived at 7:50am on July 26!! She weighed in at nine pounds even and was 21 inches long. She has been a great baby, so far. She is very content and only wakes up about every three hours at night...no colic here!!

We are all in love. Addie has been very happy, in particular. We've all been getting settled and getting into a routine.

Elise is already four weeks old. How did that happen? She has already smiled for the first time. The first time was a day short of two weeks old. She smiled for me a couple times during the day, but I wasn't sure if it was the real thing. She then did it for Mark that night, so it was official! She's a bit stingy with her smiles, but they are fun to see when we get them!

Baby Room

I've gotten most of the baby's room done. Now it's just adding wall hangings and things. I'm always bad at that part. Attached is a photo. I'm just so excited for our second little girl to get here. I think Addie is preparing too. I watched her with our video monitor as she was talking to herself in bed last night. She was talking about something 'coming out', 'living here', 'getting bigger'. I think she is mentally preparing herself for her 'baby siser'.

Pregnancy Update at 27 Weeks!

Belly Shot at 25w6d

It's been a bit, but I haven't really done much in the way of prenatal visits...until last Monday. I had the dreaded gestational diabetes one-hour tolerance. I failed, of course. I then had the three-hour test on Friday. I failed one out of four of those blood draws. Right on the report it says it takes two fails to warrant a gestational diabetes diagnosis, but I waited for word from my doctor. Nobody called. So, today I finally called them.

The nurse was pretty positive they would diagnose me with gestational diabetes because of my history. She thought they may spare me the visit to the diabetes teaching class with the dietitian. She wanted to check with my doctor, though. Low and behold, he said he didn't consider it a positive, so I DON'T have it.

Let's be honest, here. I'm borderline. My results are just a hair lower than with Addie when I WAS diagnosed with gestational diabetes. So, I'm going to try to follow the diet as best I can. I still have my monitor, so I might pull that out on occasion to check my blood sugar levels. But, at least I can claim to not have it! :)

Tonight I was looking at the medical records I have kept. On the one-hour glucose 'failure' sheet, they write your height and weight so the hospital can give you the appropriate amount of glucose for the three-hour test. I was exactly one pound heavier with Addie's pregnancy, and the test was exactly three days later in my pregnancy. I don't think I could have been that close in weight if I tried. So, I'm hoping to stick to this trend and be the same weight at the end as well. It turned out OK the first time. I believe I'm up about 17 pounds from my pre-cycle weigh in, or 13 pounds from my first prenatal checkup. I know the gestational diabetes diet kept my eating in check last time, so let's see if my will power alone can achieve the same results.

All I want is a healthy baby and healthy mom. Honestly, what more can you ask for?

Easter

Dying Easter Eggs
Showing Off

Hunting

Posing with her purse and 'makeup'

Pretty dress from Aunt Marian

Easter was a hit this year. Addie, Mark and I spent Good Friday together. We started the day by going to Grandma Sue and Papa Gene's closing on their house of 31 years. It is bittersweet. We are so excited to have them close, but saying goodbye to my childhood home was hard. Buyers of mine bought it, and they couldn't be a nicer couple. It really was the best-case scenario.

After the closing, we had some Easter activities planned. We decorated cookies, which I think Mark enjoyed as much as Addie. We also dyed Easter Eggs. This was a hit last year too. We dyed a dozen this year, though. Probably double that of last year. Addie had the routine down, and liked to narrate as she went, "Put da egg in, dip, dip, dip, and get it out.". She said it each time. Cute!

Easter has been the only nice day lately. It was sunny and pleasant...not like the rest of the spring. It enabled us to have an Easter Egg hunt outside, which Addie loved.

Weekend Trip to DC

At Mt. Vernon and GW's Grave
Cherry Blossoms

Andy and I at Georgetown...soon to be his JD alma mater.

Meagan, Me, Andy and Hil

Mark and I took a weekend trip to Washington DC to visit Andy and Meagan, and Hilary and Josh. It was fun to meet Josh for the first time. I think Hilary has a keeper! Meagan and Andy were the perfect hosts. They have a beautiful condo close to everything and Andy was a great tour guide. It was so nice to have a weekend with some of our CDH crew!

Florida

Heading to the Bonita Springs Fairy Festival w/Grandma
Pool Ready
Beach Babes (all three Muckerheide girls :))

Working on the Sand Castle

A little help from Dad

We had a fabulous, almost two-week trip to Florida. We mostly just relaxed and enjoyed the absolutely perfect weather. Mark and I took an overnight trip to Key West while Addie stayed with Grandma and Papa. Together we all went to a Fairy Festival, the beach, restaurants (including our traditional Doc's Cafe), and shopping (you have to stop at Best of Everything at least once each trip)! We love our annual trip to Florida. It was just what we all needed!

Addie the Traveler

It's a Girl!!!

Baby Girl's Profile
3D Profile Shot

We found out on March 15 that we are having another girl!! We are very excited and started brainstorming names. I think I have a favorite, the others just don't seem right. Now I just have to wait for Mark to decide what he likes. We shall see.

Baby girl measured perfectly, with her legs measuring a little long. She'll have the Muckerheide legs as well, it seems!

I'm almost 100% sure I'll have another c-section. I still have to discuss this with my doctor, but he basically left the decision to me. If that is the case, we are looking at an end of July birthday. They usually do the c-section a week before the due date, which is August 2.

I've been feeling great. At 21 weeks I'm about 12 pounds up from my pre-IVF cycle weight (I usually gain weight in cycle) and 8 pounds up from my first prenatal visit. So, I'm right on track...although I'm feeling puffy. I'm guessing I'll have my gestational diabetes test at my next appointment. I'm also guessing that I'll have it again. Although it is a bummer, it really does help me keep my eating habits in check. With Addie it helped reduce my puffiness. If I don't have it, I might just have to work on natural willpower. That's tough! :)

Two Year Check Up

Addie had her two-year check up the day after her birthday. She keeps growing taller, just not heavier. She was 35 inches and weighed 29 pounds. I swear she has been stuck at 29 pounds for months? She's in the 85-90th percentile for height and 80-85th percentile for weight. Not bad! She also got the ok in every other aspect along with three shots. Poor girl. She handled everything like a champ and got a sucker for her sorrows. All in all, not a bad trip to the doctor.

Baby Muckerheide #2

The last ultrasound I had was a few weeks ago, now, at 11 weeks and 2 days. The photo is below! My brother fixed my computer so I can once again load photos.

Technical Difficulties...Birthday Girl...First Trimester Done!

Today is Addie's second birthday! I honestly can't believe it. I feel like I was in the hospital to have her just days ago. Now she's a big, funny girl. We had our family of three (and a third) celebration tonight. We had McDonald's, presents and cupcakes! The big birthday bash is on Saturday, but we wanted to do a little something special today. Addie definitely likes opening presents. Her favorite was a box of baby doll goods. It included a stroller, bouncy seat, highchair, pack 'n play, and car seat for her dolls. She had to get everyone of them out to try everything. Every doll is named Charlie. I can't wait for her party on Saturday...it should be even more fun for her!

I had another doctor's appointment today. I'm 13 weeks and 2 days. It was anticlimactic. Everything looks good and I heard the baby's heartbeat. I had the first trimester screening two weeks ago and all was well there too. The baby shows no signs of downs syndrome or any other abnormalities. The only down side is that I'm up a total of 4-5 pounds. Stepping on the scale makes me angry every time. I wish I had never read that you aren't supposed to gain any weight in the first trimester. I did with Addie and I'm doing it again. I'm eating well and still hitting the gym. I think that darn book just sets me up to have unrealistic expectations. Sigh. Oh well. I don't have to go back in for another four weeks. That is an eternity in infertility terms. What am I going to do to pass the time?!

NYE with Nakia and Tavian Abdel-Khaliq

Addie the Fairy Princess with 'make-up'...she chose this as her outfit for daycare.

Addie and Mom with Santa...our first attempt. She actually sat on the lap of the second santa we visited the next week.

Christmas scowl.

Addie in her Christmas dress!

Updates

Addie has been so fun and silly lately. Last week she really wanted to help pick out her outfits for daycare. Two of the five days, she picked her new fairy princess costume as her outfit. I decided not to fight it. I just made her wear some clothes underneath. Monday she just wore it briefly in the morning and decided to take it off. Friday she wore it ALL day! It came home a bit tattered and dirty and her wand was broken...but she had a great time.

Her vocabulary is expanding every day too. I'm just amazed at what she comes up with. At daycare today she put on a hat and purse from the play clothes and said goodbye. Her teacher asked her where she was going. Her reply, "Shopping for green gloves.". I guess she had a fashion need? Last night when I got home from showings, Addie was watching a movie. I sat down next to her and put my arm around her. She scooted closer to me and slid her arm behind my back. Those sweet moments are what it is all about!

I've now had a third ultrasound...with a fourth scheduled for Wednesday. All looks good. Each ultrasound, the baby measures one additional day behind. Of course they don't worry when they measure just a few days behind, but the fact that we 'add' a day with each ulltrasound makes me interested in Wednesday's ultrasound. I'll be with the 'real' sonographer (sp?), so hopefully his measurement will be the most accurate.

I'm feeling good. I had nausea the first several weeks, but it seemed like 9-10 weeks has been a turning point. I'm starting to grow out of clothes. I'm just looking chubby, not quite rounding out yet.

I've been really bad about taking photos off of my camera. I have some capacity constraints on my computer, so I have to upload all my photos to smugmug. Not that it is a huge deal...I've just been lazy and busy. So, still no photos in my update...but I'll post some soon!