Happy Birthday, Annalise!!

November 2008

November 2009

Well....not really yet. At 11:49 tonight she will be one year old! I cannot believe how quickly this year has gone by! At this point in the day last year I was finally checked into the hospital after a few hours of walking. When my contractions were 10 minutes apart, I called like I was supposed to and they told me to come in to be checked. It was about 5 am when I called and about 6 am by the time we got everything around and got there. The doctor check me and I don't remember how many centimeters I was, but apparently I was not enough to be checked in to the hospital but the doctor felt that if I walked around for 2 HOURS or so that I would probably speed up the process and she would check me in. So, off Stan and I went to walk the campus of Geisinger. At that point I was already getting some pretty intense back labor so when Stan had his back turned, I would sneak away and find somewhere to sit down. He would then try to coax me to walk more...and I would comply....only to find another spot to sit for a minute or so. That back labor was sooooooooo intense and only got much worse as the day went on. I was determined to make it as long as I could though without any drugs. Anyway...we walked and walked and walked and returned for me to be checked at 9 am. The walking worked and I was checked into the hospital. The rest is actually somewhat of a blur until I got to the point where I needed to begin pushing at about 9 pm. I did end up getting an epidural around 7 pm or so....I could not take the back labor any longer. The next time I really hope that I don't have back labor because I think I probably could have made it if it were not for that. Before I got the epidural I asked the nurse if there was anything else that I could have that would just take the edge of the back pain and she said for back labor the ONLY thing that works is an epidural....so I wimped out and did it. Actually now sitting here typing at that point I had no idea that Anna was going to be over 9 pounds so actually maybe it was a good thing I got it because the pushing was something else because of her size!!!!! I do plan on next time again going as long as I can without anything and see if I can make it all the way. Anyway, after about 2 hours and 49 minutes of pushing, Annalise Olivia Hess can into our lives....and timely on her due date I might add. As I was pushing I was determined to get her into this world before the clock said midnight because of course I wanted to make the deadline!!!! This has become quite a joke between Stan and I. The nurses told us that supposedly Anna is supposed to have a lifetime of luck and good fortune because she was born naturally on her due date!!! So we will see........
I am going to post some pictures tonight after she goes to bed because I have a million things to do at the moment.

Last year on this day....

Last year on the is day, it was my last day working at school. Well, I guess I was "working". I had a student teacher and was more like "monitoring from a chair" because I couldn't breath much less stand up for too long. At this point, even though it was the day before my official due date of the 22nd, I was still on the outside thinking that I would be back at work the following week because it was my first baby and first babies are always late right??? Well obviously I was wrong. I do think that a little part of me did know that I would not be back the following week because I remember staying at school until like 5:00 that night putting the finishing touches on all the things I needed (or thought I needed) to do before the baby came. It was a good thing I did that too...because little did know what would unfold a few short hours later. I would say at about 9:00 that night I was really uncomfortable. I had been for some time because I did have a 9lb 3 0z baby which made breathing quite a task but I was REALLY uncomfortable that night. I managed to doze off on the couch for awhile and woke up around midnight when the contractions began..............nearly 24 hours later I would meet my sweet princess.........

Walked 4 Steps

Last night, Annalise walked four steps on her own!!!!! We got her to do it a few times by coaxing her to let go of the table, but one time she just did it by herself without having to be convinced to do it. I am thinking that in a couple of weeks we will be chasing her around!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Halloween!

Why, might you ask, did I post a picture of just a shirt? Because the following is evidence of what my 11 month old currently does when you try to take her picture.......

There were many more photos like this. I tried a few times throughout the day but then gave up. She clearly had more important things on her agenda!
I hope everyone had a fun Halloween. We were supposed to take Anna to the Halloween parade, but since it rained for the better part of the day, I decided against it. I didn't want her to be out in the damp, chilly night air, so hopefully next year! We had a good time at home playing with her new "Halloween gifts".

Anna's Pumpkins

Annalise really loves our pumpkins. As soon as she sees them she points and tries to get out of your arms to go get them. Here are some pictures on a recent weekend....

Gangsta' Vest

This gold vest came with a cute set of clothes that included many different mix and match pieces. When I got the outfits, I was showing them to Stan and said "I will probably never put her in this vest, but I really like all the other pieces". Of course, Stan decided that he really likes the gold vest and put it on her the other day. I do have to admit it was cute on her, but for some reason it reminds me of gangaster clothes. This is Annalise in her beautiful vest. Sorry for the fact that she is not looking at me in the shots. Anymore if she is facing me with a camera she is trying to get at me to get it so I have to take pictures quickly and on the sly at the moment!

Anna's New Car Seats

Anna got new front facing car seats last weekend. I know you are supposed to wait until they are a year old to face them forward, but since she is sooooooo tall, I decided to face her forward a little early. I mean, I was looking at the side of her old seat the other day and it said it was for children less than 22 lbs (which she still is) but less than 29" tall and less than 1 year old! Holy cow! Anna was 30.5" tall at 9 months! She loves sitting forward in the seat and looking around!

The new seat in Stan's truck

Waving out the window

Finally, room for her to stretch out and swing her legs!

The new seat in my car. Stan got a plain-old gray seat for in his truck but I got the cute pink butterfly version for in my car!