Eloise Julian was born on Thursday June 26, 2008 at 7:13pm, she weighed 7lbs 1oz and was-- inches long! Her original due date was June 22, so she was 4 days late.
Corey and I were still in high school when we found out I was pregnant, it was September of our senior year. One morning before school I took a pregnancy test from the dollar store, it had a super faint line on it, you almost couldn't see it, so I didn't trust it. After school, we went to the store and bought a better test, when I took it it was very obviously positive right away. I told Corey and he was SO excited, we both were!
My pregnancy with Eloise was pretty "normal". I didn't have any morning sickness but I was SO tired in the first trimester, I fell asleep every night by like 7pm. I don't know what caused it, but I wanted absolutely nothing to do with Corey when I was first pregnant, luckily he was amazing and stuck with me through it all. (I thankfully have not had this issue with any other pregnancies!) We were scared to tell our parents that I was pregnant, so we actually waited until May to tell anyone. Yep, that's right, it was only about 8 weeks before I was due. Corey's mom was shocked and actually asked "This June?!", we still tease her about that. Our parents were pretty upset at first, but they were excited in no time! Once my mom knew we made me an ob appointment since I had foolishly not gone to the doctor at all (that's still embarrassing to admit). They did an ultrasound and everything looked wonderful! We found out then that we were expecting a beautiful baby girl. I bought a couple of girly onesies and put them in a gender neutral gift bag to go tell Corey, he was working at the time.
After that, we started trying to pick names. I wanted something different but not weird, I really liked old names. We considered a few different names, like Genevieve (and Simon or Kingsley, incase she was a boy), but eventually settled on Eloise!
My dad and his wife Debbie took me shopping to help us get some much needed baby gear, we had a blast that day. He bought all sorts of things for his new granddaughter: a swing, bouncer, outfits, other little things like a diaper caddy, changing pad cover, the list goes on and on.
Grandpa Red and his wife Annie wanted to do something as well, so I went shopping with them to pick out the perfect stroller and car seat. It was a pink cherry blossom travel system that I was oh so in love with! And then when she was a few months old he bought her a high chair and rocking chair from Amish Country.
Then, my moms best friend Retta threw us a baby shower where we got all of the other little things we would need. It was so nice of her and we got a lot of gifts.....
We went to Ikea and spent some money that I had saved up to buy the big things like dressers and a crib. Then we sent up the perfect nursery for her, it was pink and white and oh so adorable.
By the time her due date came along I was getting very excited and impatient! I walked a ton, did squats, anything I could think of to try and go into labor, but nothing worked. I finally went into labor 4 days late. I woke up around 2am having mild contractions, I wanted to labor at home but since I tested positive for group B strep, I had to go in right away so they could start me on IV antibiotics. I woke up my mom and Corey so they could take me to the hospital and Corey was SO excited. He wanted to call everyone right then and there but I made him wait until we knew I was in labor for sure. So we drove to the hospital in LaGrange and got checked in. Then he called his mom and she drove down from Illinois so she could see her new granddaughter after she was born. My labor with her was very long and slow. I made it without an epidural as long as I could, but once they broke my water around 4pm, the contractions got a lot more intense and I got an epidural. Around 6:45 they finally said I was ready to push, so they got the Dr. in the room and she was born within 15 minutes and a few pushes! She was just perfect. My mom, Retta, and Corey's mom were the first ones to come see her. Corey called everyone else and we texted them all pictures.
The next few days in the hospital were great, we were loving every minute with our new baby girl. My recovery was a bit rough and the (unnecessary) episiotomy was making my recovery a lot worse than it should have been. Corey went to Louisville with his mom and brought me back spaghetti from the Old Spaghetti Factory and cheescake, but I didn't even eat them. Nursing was going well though and Eloise was doing great. We didn't pick her middle name until after she was born, we finally settled on Julian (it was a contender on our boy list and I loved it). On Saturday we were released and allowed to go home.
That Monday my mom took me to Florence to see my Dad and let him meet his new granddaughter, we didn't tell him we were coming and he was very excited to see us. He was in the hospital for cancer treatment, but he was still able to hold Eloise, she laid very calmly in bed with him for quite a while and we got some very precious pictures of them together.
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When Eloise was just a few weeks old my dad had been taken home and wasn't doing well at all. Corey, Eloise and I all went to his house on Friday to see him, the whole family stayed at the house all weekend., he was going downhill fast. It was very difficult trying to adjust to having a newborn and be away from home, but I am so thankful to have had that time with him. He died on July 21, 2008 at 9:45pm, we were all there with him, Eloise was just a few weeks old.
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Eloise's First Christmas
Eloise's First Birthday
Learning To Walk
September 2009 started cloth diapering
Vacation to Tennessee in October 2009
Second Christmas 2009
Janurary 2010 when Eloise was 18 months old we got pregnant with Beatrix!
First Haircut
Second Birthday
Third Christmas 2010
Great Wolf Lodge Spring of 2011
Easter 2011
Third Birthday 2011
Fourth Christmas 2011
Fourth Birthday 2012
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March 2012- completely potty trained!
4th birthday! - got ears pierced, went to the old spaghetti factory with mommy and daddy. Went for carriage ride in Louisville. Got ears pierced. Went to zoo. Had a hello kitty cake. Got a kindle fire and pretend dr kit.
- July 31, 2012- 4yr checkup
34lbs and 40.5" tall
