Ellie is home

Just a quick note to say that we are home. All 5 of us, plus my parents, are sitting and relaxing after eating the delicious roast dinner Grammer cooked. Ellie is sleeping in her Pappy's lap as I type, and I am enjoying the effects of my pain meds. Thank goodness for pain meds! It's good to be home although I must say we thoroughly enjoyed the treatment we received at the hospital. There were so many nice people there, and we would recommend the hospital to anyone.


Chris & I will take Ellie back Sunday morning for a check-up on her jaundice levels. They had risen a little, so the pediatrician at the hospital wanted us to have it checked 48 hours after leaving. The new ped. we chose doesn't have Sunday office hours, so we will go back to the nursery at the hospital. I think they will also check her weight since she did end up losing 7% of her birth weight which they don't want to have happen. They didn't seem too concerned though, and I think she will gain back quickly from this point on. We have more family coming over the next week or so and plan to enjoy that while sticking close to home for awhile. We will try to let little Ellie spend most of her first few weeks at home before we start taking her out places.


I will update more later. Thank you for all the well wishes!

Ellie Hollyn Shanks

We welcome this precious gift from God into our family with love!

Ellie Hollyn Shanks

6/24/08 @ 12:50 pm

8lbs. 3 oz.

20 1/2 inches

still hanging out at home.......

I haven't posted in awhile which is a bit strange for me. I just keep 'waiting' to be able to post something EXCITING-a.k.a. our baby being born! However, she is still staying put for now, but at least we know she will be born Tuesday at the latest! I'm getting a little nervous!!!!! One of the reasons I was hoping she'd come 'on her own'-like Gracie & Katie did-is b/c then the adrenaline kicks in and there's not as much time to be nervous. I suppose I still have a little time for her to come on her own....'til Tuesday at 12:30 anyway! :-) I think Tuesday will be 10 days before my due date which is about when Katie made her 'surprise arrival,' while Gracie had already been here about a week by this time-making her arrival very much a surprise! (a little over 3 weeks early.)

We're still enjoying having Grammer here (and Pappy comes tomorrow while Gramps & Gramme will be here this next weekend). She has been cooking & doing laundry and it is appreciated. It's been nice to not to have to worry about such things for awhile. This weekend, Chris played basketball with some guys from church after which he decided that he is an OLD MAN! HA! Gracie went to a birthday party yesterday that she really enjoyed, and we were invited over for dinner to a friend's house last night which was nice.


Today we went to church where we've been enjoying a parenting class that started recently. One of the elders is teaching it, and I'm enjoying it. He does a good job of keeping my interest and getting people to participate in the discussion. We've decided that we really like the singing at this church. The song leaders have all been really good, and I like the song selections. Some of them are actually ones I don't know, but then some of them are the 'oldies but goodies.' The congregation does a good job, and it sounds really nice. I was blessed to have many people ask me how I was doing and to say that they would be praying for me Tuesday. It's nice to know that people care. This afternoon I took a nap (surprise! surprise!) This baby is making me tired, so we stayed home tonight. As much as I don't want my baby's first days to fly by too quickly, I do look forward to when we're kind of 'settled' into life as a family of 5 and back to more of a regular routine. For now, I look forward to welcoming our newest little girl into our family and getting to know this precious soul God has decided to bless us with.


Gracie requested that we play "Family Fun" tonight, so we did that. It is a really fun game and one I recommend to everyone. Even friends could play it together and have a good time! Here are some recent pictures to enjoy. I'm getting uncomfortable sitting here with the laptop on my tummy, so I'm not going to include captions for the pictures-hope you can figure out what they are! The next post should include news of our sweet little girl's arrival into this world!!!!!

Teddy Bear Tea

Katie & I went to a 'Teddy Bear Tea' at church this morning that was planned for preschool girls. I took a bunch of pictures, but a lot of them have other people's children in them and I'm not sure how they would feel about me posting them, so here are some of just Katie. It was a really fun morning full of princess coloring, cookie decorating & eating, crown & necklace making, storytime, & hide 'n seek! Our thanks to Jennifer for planning such a fun morning for our little princesses!

(She's counting here for hide 'n seek.)

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to the best daddy my girls could ever dream of having! God has blessed us with this man.

Happy 36th Birthday, Chris!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband, Chris!!!!! We celebrated 36 years of his life today-even though I've only been blessed to know him for around 16 of those years. He is a fantastic Christian husband, father, & friend. The girls & I are certainly blessed to have him in our lives, and I hope Gracie, Katie, & our new little one will understand & appreciate this God given blessing more & more as they grow older.

Chris & Gracie got home this morning after spending the night at the church lock-in which they both enjoyed. They both had a good time, and Gracie is looking forward to the next one! We hung around the apartment this morning after Chris opened his birthday gifts, then Gracie, Katie, Grammer, & I went to a birthday party for a little girl at church. at one of those "jumper" places. It was a really fun party. Chris took the chance to run some errands on his own and took his 2nd nap of the day-trying to recover from his night with 22 3rd-5th graders! He said he did actually get some sleep but apparently not enough!


We came home and Grammer cooked a delicious birthday dinner while we got the girls bathed and ready for bed. Gracie wrote a 'song' to sing for Chris before we ate and Katie enjoyed singing 'Happy Birthday' not once, but at least twice, before we had his birthday brownies.


Since Gracie had gone to bed last night around 1:00 and gotten up around 6:00, we figured bed time should be early tonight, so both the girls were tucked in while it was still light outside. They weren't too sure about this idea, but I didn't hear a peep out of either one of them once they were there!

Tomorrow will be Father's Day-yet another day to celebrate the wonderful man in our life. Speaking of new baby...she's still hanging out with just me.....maybe a Father's Day gift????? I can only hope & pray! :-)

still waiting.......

Here I sit. Still pregnant. Waiting, waiting, waiting. There have been a few nights that I've felt that this was surely the night she would make her arrival. I just felt like it was the night. However, God & our little one have apparently had other plans, so she is still sitting comfy in her temporary home. Well, I say comfy....comfy for her maybe....not so much for me!

I am ready, but I know God has chosen the perfect time for us to meet her. I am to the point where I find myself wondering a lot about what she is going to look like......lots of dark hair like Gracie? mostly bald with some light peach fuzz like Katie? maybe a redhead? Truthfully, I'm hoping for a redhead! :-)

Katie, Grammer, & I are at home tonight while Chris & Gracie have gone to church for a '3rd-5th grade Leadership Lock-In.' Since our church does promotion in June, Gracie is now officially in the 3rd grade as far as church is concerned. When did she get so old?!?!

Chris volunteered to chaperone tonight since I was a little unsure of letting her go 'solo.' Still being new to the church-and with her being one of the youngest ones in the group-I was a little nervous, but I knew she would have a fantastic time and I don't want to hold her back from doing wonderful things just because of my nerves, so Chris wisely volunteered to go along. They needed chaperones anyway, so it may as well as be him!

I got to preview the lock-in schedule our children's coordinator had planned, and it looked like some fun & Biblically based activities. I know Gracie will have a good time! I'm anxious to hear all about it, and I'm hoping she comes home with even more new friends! I'm hoping Chris survives sleeping in the same room as a bunch of 3rd-5th grade boys! Chris left with pleas from me to keep his cell phone handy in case "anything" happens in the baby department, so the two of them can jump in the car and head to the hospital to meet us. Of course, with it being Friday, the 13th, I'd be happy to wait until at least after midnight! Not that I'm superstitious or anything........

Tomorrow, I am taking the girls to a birthday party that someone from church invited them to, and it is also Chris's birthday! 36! He has requested a 'southern style meal' of pork tenderloin, buffet potatoes, lima beans, sweet tea, and some good brownies. Last night, he & I went on a date to "The Melting Pot" which was soooo good!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame & Meet Fluffy

The girls are enjoying having Grammer here and we are too! She has been cooking and planning more things to cook for the freezer! It's also just good to know she's here to help with the girls when the baby comes. I am ready!!!!!

Last night, Chris, Gracie, & I (Katie stayed with Grammer!) went to the Houston Astros game. It was nice to visitwith people from church in a setting away from church, and I was so happy that the stadium was indoors. It was still hot but nothing like it could have been! I was also blessed that no one was sitting in front of me so I could prop up my feet! Yea for the seemingly little things, right?!?!

This morning, Chris took the girls swimming while Grammer & I watched. Gracie is doing such a good job and has such a desire to learn now. We want to get her into some real lessons since she is so ready to actually try things now. It's just not a good time right now b/c I won't be able to take her for awhile after the baby is here. Maybe later in the summer. After swimming, we went to the mall and the girls got to make the baby a new friend. They chose a really sweet, soft bunny who is now named "Fluffy." She is sitting patiently in the baby's crib awaiting her arrival!

June 24th is the scheduled c-section date. I'll take sooner though..................