Tummy Time

This is a picture of Alexis that John took while he was supervising her 'tummy time.' When she was first born, Alexis would scream and scream when you put her on her stomach. She seems to enjoy it a bit more now. Maybe, because she is getting really good at controlling her head and can hold it up for quite awhile on her own.

Church #2

Alexis has so many cute church outfits that I thought I better start taking pictures of her each week. She's not going to fit into them for that long!

Sydney

John and I took Alexis to Sydney this week so that we could go to the American Consulate and make sure she was registered as an U.S. citizen. We also needed to get her a passport so that we can visit our family. Because Alexis is only 4 weeks old and I'm still recovering from my c-section, we kept the trip short - just a day a half. But once we were there, we wish we could have stayed longer! Alexis was a dream; she slept almost the whole time on both plane rides and she took great naps during the day (which she normally doesn't do). And I could have stayed in the hotel bed forever! It was so comfortable. John and I really like our bed at home. Normally when we come home from a trip, we are so happy to be back in our own bed. But, last night we were both wishing we were back at the Four Seasons. We didn't do too much extra walking around since I still get sore pretty easily, but the picture above was taken from our hotel room. Talk about a room with a view!

Alexis' first plane ride.
Townsville to Sydney - 24 November 2009

Mom and Alexis enjoying the king size feather bed at the hotel.

We made sure to take a walk down to Circular Quay to get a picture of Alexis with the Opera House. She's so adorable in her polka dots.

Taking a nap on the flight home.

Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving early this year so that we could have it with Tom and Susan before they went back to the States.  It was great.  Thanks to the McCandlesses for hosting the dinner and a huge thanks to Susan for doing a ton of cooking!  She cooked two pumpkin pies, dinner rolls,  cinnamon rolls, stuffing, and potatoes.  I didn't have to do anything except season the mashed potatoes (which I requested, since I'm kind of picky).

After not sleeping all day, Alexis slept through the whole dinner. We tried out the sling for the first time, which was nice, because I could hold her and eat at the same time.  The only problem was that we both got really hot!  I was dripping in sweat by the time I took her out two hours later, as was she.

Baby in Red

John's parents want to put Alexis on the cover of their Christmas card this year, so we had a little photo shoot.  Here's a sneak peak:

Isn't the dress adorable? And the little patent leather shoes? And what's even more adorable (even though you can't see it now), is that this is the same dress that all of her older cousins are also wearing for Christmas.  So cute!

Blessing Day

We blessed Alexis at church today.  John gave her a beautiful blessing.  She was such a good baby and didn't make a peep (even though she was hungry).  And she looked so cute in her blessing gown.  We are so happy that three of her grand-parents were able to be here for the occasion.

Proud parents:

Happy grand-parents:

Footprints

I'm sure I would have been happy to have a boy, but it's just so much fun having a girl!  My mom brought a do-it-yourself footprint kit with her, and I'm so glad she did.  When Alexis was a week old, we thought it was time for her first craft project (and we didn't want her feet to grow too much).  I thought it would be difficult to get Lexie to hold still, but my mom was a pro:

Final Results:

Alexis is now 2 1/2 weeks old and is growing and changing so much everyday.  We're going to bless her this weekend while my mom and John's parents are all in town.  So, you can look forward to pictures of her in her beautiful blessing gown.

Church

Today was Alexis' first day at church.  Doesn't she look precious?

Introducing . . .

Alexis Ann Horne

26 October 2009

9:41 pm

8 lbs. 7 oz.
20.5 inches

Alexis (a.k.a. Lexie, Little Bug, Missie, Sweet Pea) finally made her entrance into this world a week after her due date.  She was so comfortable, she didn't want to come out!  I was induced at 6:00am on Monday morning and by 8:00pm that night, I was still only 4 cm dialated.  Alexis was showing some distress and I was developing a fever, so it was decided that it would be best to have a c-section.  Let me tell all of you who think that having a c-section is the "easy way out" -- it's not.  (NOTE TO READERS: skip this next part if you don't like gory details.)  Vomiting while laying on your back is not fun.  Neither is almost going unconscious while you hear the doctor saying, "let's get this bleeding under control" and the nurse having to run to another room to get an oxygen mask when the anesthesiologist asks for one "straight away."  And let's not forget how I screamed and whimpered like an injured animal when they pulled (or should I say ripped) my wound dressing off a few days later.  The upside to having a c-section?  Going to the bathroom pain free.  But I don't want to complain.  She was worth every second of it and then some.

After a four-day hospital stay, we made it home, only to determine that I had a uterine infection.  I was fine in the hospital and within 30 minutes of coming home, I was sick.  How ironic is that?  After a rough night, we were very grateful for the arrival of Grandma Lisa on Saturday afternoon.  (We were also blessed to have Grandma Susan with us at the hospital for a few days.)

Alexis is now a week old and we are so happy to have her in our family.  She already has her daddy wrapped around her little finger, and her mom too.

BIRTH

HOSPITAL

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