He's Here!!!

I have the most amazing best friend. Hi all, this is Stephanie posting on Taylor's blog. I just wanted to tell everyone that Elijah Brycen Landis granted us his presence FINALLY this morning! After waiting and waiting and some more waiting, he decided today was a great day to come! Taylor's water broke at 2:00 am this morning and was at the hospital in no time. She got her Epidural around 2:55 and at 4:25 am a beautiful baby boy was born. He weighed in at 6 lbs 6 oz and 19.5 inches long. Zach and Taylor sent me a picture and I can't wait to get my hands on him. Carter is so excited to meet his best friend, so excited he is exhausted from all the texting we were doing between 2:30 and 5:30 this morning.

Taylor is doing well and I am so proud to call her my best friend. She is a strong woman and I can't imagine how labor for only 2 hours would feel, must have been intense. I just want to remind you that she is super overwhelmed and is so grateful for everyone's support but she still wants to keep the visitors to a minimum for now. The hospital room isn't too big and it will be too crowded if everyone goes. I think she just wants to keep it to immediate/close family.

Let her have a few hours of sleep then maybe you can call or text her and see how she is feeling. He is amazing (from what I saw) and I will post so many pictures as soon as I get there and back here! Keep her in your prayers and pray for her strength and sanity because as most of you know, newborns can keep you busy!

I'll post more later! Love Steph

Update :)

Just wanted to give everyone a very quick update. I went to the Dr today and I am still dilated at 3.5cm. . .but I am 75%-85% effaced..which is great! :) She was poking on his head...its very very low apparently (hahaha sorry if thats too gross for you) and as she was doing it, you could see him hitting/punching/moving in my belly. It was funny.

If I dont go on my own, I will be induced on Monday morning 2/9/09 at 7:30am. I am nervous about being induced..I think I've voiced that before. I just dont want to force him out, if he isnt ready, but it is what it is!

I will try my best to keep everyone updated..but don't take it personal if I am unable to do so. :)

Have a wonderful day!

xoxo
Tay

yup.

just letting you all know that follow my blog...I'm still pregnant :/

thats all for now. just wanted to keep you updated. haha :)

xoxo
tay

waiiiiiiiiiting.

I have decided I am going to write a book.
And in this book I am going to tell women to not try stupid crap to go into labor. I have done everything people have told me to do. EVERYTHING.And nothing.
I have walked more than I like to walk....ever in my life. I have eaten the spiciest food I can handle. I have eaten salsa. I have eaten CiCis pizza. I have drank raspberry leaf tea. And a few other things.....this child is warm and cozy and isn't coming out. My hips hurt, and I walk like a 95 year old woman who has needed a hip replacement for the last 30 years. I cannot describe the pain. I have enjoyed being pregnant for the most part (the thought that I am creating life in my belly just fascinates me), but I just want to be able to walk again....instead of waddle. ::smiles::
So now, since NOTHING has worked, I guess we just wait.
I hope to keep the blog updated while I'm in the hospital. I will either do it from my computer, or have Steph or Morgan keep everyone updated. Please do not get mad/upset/feel left out if you dont hear from someone right away....obviously I will be a bit overwhelmed!
After the overwhelming amount of people that were there to see Steph when she had Carter...Zach and I would LOVE visitors, we are hoping to keep it to Family and our closest friends....but give me a few hours (or more!) to get my act together before you come barging in the door! haha! If you know me, you know I MUST put my face on for anyone to see me....plus I know there will be a lot of picture taking, and I will not look like a COMPLETE trainwreck...choooo choooo. Thanks!!!

I need you (yes you....everyone) to keep your fingers crossed that this little guy comes on his own and that I dont have to be induced and "force" him out.

xoxo
Tay

progress.report

Just a quick post...I'm so sleeeeepy.

I went to the Doctor today and am finally making progress!!!! I am dilated to 3.5cm..still 50% effaced. She said that she is confident that I will have the little man with in the next week!!! (and if I don't for some reason make anymore progress, I am scheduled to be induced on Monday February 9th) I am making progress in other parts of the pregnancy...but I will spare you the details! Lets just say things are moving right along! hehe.
Keep your fingers crossed...because I am uncomfortable as ever!!

xoxo
Tay

the waiiiting game

Our Boy! :)

Can you see him? Its like he is looking right at you? It kinda looks like he has a little pigs nose...I hope not..but I will still love him the most anyways! haha!

So the Dr yesterday went pretty good! Eli's bladder is perfect, no obstruction!!!!! :) So they are assuming he was just holding in his pee last week! When I told my mom she said "Thats good..that means he will be easy to potty train!!" ha!! Lets hope!! We got a few more pictures. I just cannot wait to see this little guy!! I remember looking with Steph, at Carters ultrasound pictures and laughing that he was going to have a huge head and the chubbiest cheeks ever...and he didnt at all! Its just weird with all of the shadows and angles they catch stuff at in these ultrasounds.
Unfortunately I am still only dilated at 2cm...but making progess in the effacement department and went from 25% effaced to 50% effaced..so that is SOME progress. I have still been having some contractions...some pretty painful ones this morning actually, but they went away. At least my body is trying, I guess.
I saw the nurse practitioner yesterday, instead of my Dr. and she said that if nothing has progessed next week that we will talk induction. She said she thinks she would probably induce me February 9th (my intial due date) if I hadn't gone by then. I kind of have mixed feelings about being induced..I hate the idea of "forcing" him to come, but sometimes its necessary! I hope to talk to her and get induced that friday before the 9th.....which is the 6th. That is only 2 weeks and a couple of days away though...I can seeeee the end! :) If i actually get the choice, I would rather do it on a friday so Zach has a full week at home with us (as opposed to going in on monday and be there for 2-3 days, then only having him home for 4 days with me...)...but we will see how it really works out. Its just playing the waiting game now...blah.

Dad plays LN again tonight. Hopefully I can throw myself into labor from the excitement of this game...hahaha! :)

Have a great weekend!

xoxo

Tay

luckydog

SO. If you know me, you know that I can tend to be a bit of a procrastinator. . .in fact, I'm really good at it--so I like to think!

Story: On my 25th birthday I completely spaced the fact that I was supposed to get my license renewed..."no big deal, I'll just go tomorrow"...is what I thought. Well tomorrow turned into the next day and the next day turned into "I'll get it done eventually." Now, considering I could have a child anyday, I figured I should probably get this done, so little Elijah doesnt see his mom carted away b/c she is an idiot and was too lazy to go to the license branch.

This morning I woke up and felt motivated to get stuff done....finally! So I called the license branch and talked to this lady and told her I was stupid and had an expired license..she laughed...then told me (while still laughing) if it was over 6 months from the expiration date of my license I was going to have to retake the written test: panic attack...NOW. It has been 6 months...almost to the day. I hung up and text Zach freaking out. He text me back and said "Well go do it now, missy. We don't need Eli telling people his mommy doesn't have a license." hahahaha! (I should NOT BE LAUGHING! I know.)

So I got there, and she told me I had just made it by 8 days (6 months from my birthday is January 29th)...so I didnt have to take the test. Thank you JESUS!
I had to pay $26. And because of the new rules, when they took my picture (which they had to take a few times, b/c I have a big head and they couldnt get it to fit in the box perfectly. hahahaha. ridiculous!) I had to take off my glasses and I could "kinda" smile, but I wasn't allowed to show my teeth. The lady next to me, also getting her picture taken, kept blinking and they couldnt get her in the picture box b/c she was too short....we were laughing so hard, it was hard not to show our teeth. Stupid rules! They are just sucking the fun right out of world by not letting us show our pearly whites for the coppers who pull us over! :) The nerve!


And just let me add...it made me angry sitting there listening to how much people had to pay for plates and titles and other stuff. Some guy had to pay over $500! It just made me so mad! I was thinking, but refrained from saying....Why do I have to pay YOU, $500 when I just bought a $20-$30,000 car, to drive on the roads that I already pay taxes to help keep chuckholes out of, that you cant even fix! Just a pregnant rant. Thanks I'm done. ::smiles::

On a lighter note...I've been having contractions....far and in between (about every 20 or 30 minutes), but they are there! We go to the Dr. tmw again...for another Ultrasound to check on Elijahs bladder, and to see if I've made any more progress. Lets hope. I'm feeling pretty fracking miserable.

xoxo
Tay

p.s.yesterday was pretty awesome watching history made. People are beyond excited, or talking smack about how he won't be able to do it....but all I have to say is...Mr. President you have your work cut out for you...but I have faith :)

::you probably dont want to miss this::

Sooo...the little mans room is about...hmm..90% done. I just have a few little things here and there to get in there and finish. Sarah (a friend from our NC "family") and I were chatting a few weeks ago and I found out that she is like the crafiest lady EVERRRRR. (We called her Martha Stewart all day) She came over yesterda and we went to Target and walmart, found some things, and I put her to work. I am soooo thankful for Sarahs time, and creativity!! Mom, Steph(and Carter), and Aunt Kari also came and helped! Nana had the flu and had to sit this decorating party out! :( While Mom, Sarah and Aunt Kari worked on the room, steph and I went (back) to Target and got a mattress and a few other things! Carter tried out the mattress and decided he LOVED it....slept for like 30 minutes :) it was adorable! I decided to not do the little guys room in a specific "theme"....such as tractors, or sports, or fish, animals..or whatever. When he is older and decides what he likes, we can just redo it! So I tried to keep it a bit neutral. I mean, I know it has a theme kinda, but I was too afraid to do a basketball room and he not like basketball or something like that. ha! SO whatever, thats why I decided on such a "theme." So here are pictures of the "pretty much done" nursery. and for those of you that don't already know his name....It is obvious what it is in the pictures so I shall tell you...

Elijah Brycen Landis.

We will most likely call him Eli for short. I call him Eli-Eli-O, already. hehehe. (and yes....he is taking Zachs last name..for those of you who were wondering. I know that it was a pondering question for some.....that is now answered. so there!) That is the name we have had since around maybe...week 22 or so...I had a moment where I was questioning it, but it is just perfect for us. I love it. and I don't care what you think ::smiles!!!::

and PLEASE excuse these pictures being completely out of order. I had some serious issues with putting these pictures up for some reason. and became very frustrated....so deal with it! :) thanks!


This is where my rocking chair and
cradle will go.





The wall art in Elis bathroom. It keeps pealing off..angry face.

Awesome picture frame from Target that Sarah fixed up.

Carter testing out Elis crib! :)

Mom and Sarah working on the bathroom!

Our baby Eli's room!! :)

So there you have it! There is the "Little Mans" room! When everything is in there I will take more pictures! I hope to get a rocking chair (eventually) of some sort and my mom is letting me put a cradle that we have had forrreever in his room too! :) The bassinett is in my room and ready for him when he is! :)

I have been having small little contractions (i think) here and there. I get so nervous thinking I will have no idea when its time....although I hear I will know. I just feel crampy and weird. I'm getting nervous! Yikes!

And I'll leave you with this... My dads team (THE Marion County Champions..might I add) played at Southport this weekend for the Marion County title. And this was the sign outside of the school...weird? I find it to be extremely odd...

like people have been riding their Ponies to school? really though?



Thank you sooo much, again, to Mom, Aunt Kari, Hannah, Payton, Sarah, Steph and Amanda for help with Elijahs room! :) I couldn't have done it at all without you!

xoxo

Tay

Video

So I was able to figure out how to upload videos!!! YIPPPEEE! Some of you may not care much, and thats fine, but some of you may.I had to break up me video taping, the video tape of the ultrasound b/c my phone kept ringing and Manning kept bugging me. So if you hear my phone ring, manning whining and eating...please disregard. hahahaha. Enjoy!!!

The first video is basically just his profile, and face. You can totally see the lips and nose!! If you know what you are looking for! :)

In this part is all of his body stuff. ha! You can see his "oversized" bladder in this video too. It shows his heart, heartbeat, spine and head and all kinds of stuff. again..disregard the phone and manning :)

There is a bit more, but I won't bore you!

have a good day!

xoxo

Tay

Baby its COLD outside

Helllllo. I hope everyone is staying warm, its pretty awful outside. I've been inside most of the time "nesting"......cleaning the crap out of my house and preparing for the arrival of the little one. I will post some pictures of progress on his room and all that. . .and this morning i took some "belly" shots in one of the tanning bed rooms..hahaha.

Yesterday we went to the Dr and had what we thought would be our last ultrasound. Everything went well for the most part, but they have a bit of concern about the little guy's bladder. During the ultrasound we noticed that it was rather large...and obviously the Dr. did too. Soo...we go back next week for another ultrasound to check it out again. The doctor said that she wasn't very concerned at all, she said that she would be more concerned if his kidneys didnt look good, but she said they looked perfect, along with everything else....so she is just assuming that it was a full bladder. But she said if there is a problem, and there is something obstructing him from going potty, then it is easily treatable after birth. I am praying the little guy was just holding in his pee. But I do realize this could be a lot worse...
Say a little prayer for us/him....
ON a lighter note: He is weighing in around 5.5lbs...which I thought was small, but she said its perfect, b/c they could also be off by as much as a pound! I'm thinking he is going to be a little 7 pounder, which is better than the 9lbs 13oz I was. (ouch. sorry mom) The first thing we noticed on this little guy were his lips, they are big and pouty...so stinking funny! He even waived at us. We only got 3 pictures...2 of which are really difficult to see. I will post the other one..and hopefully you can see what we see. hehe. It looks like he is wearing a pair of sunglasses and pouting his lips, with his little button nose. hehe. its cute! We even got to see his hair!!!!
Another good thing is I'm dilated at 2cm and 25% effaced!! YIPPPEEE. For my first baby, apparently this is great. I just had a friend have a baby, she was 2cm, and had her baby the very next night.....which is totally unlikey for me. . .I could stay at this for 3 weeks. So we shall see what happens next Thursday!
They say that the movement of the baby should slow down, but this guy is soooo active all the time...and he gets the hiccups like 5 times a day! Its insane! :)
I get nervous that he won't be cute..that I will not be a good mom...just so many crazy emotions! And last night I told my mom "Mom, what if he isn't cute??" She goes "well honey, there is nothing we can do about it now....we will just make sure to dress him in super cute clothes." hahaha. Gotta love my mama.

so here are some pictures. enjoy.




The before.....






Manning checking out the scene.


me and amanda sorting through tons and tons of clothes


Amanda helping!!! :) So helpful!


Manning wanted to help....so annoying.


Morgan "helping" by falling out of the chair :)


Finished painting!




Little Mans closet with clean clothes.


More stuff for me to go through.


Bathroom!!


Manning inspecting the bathroom!




The BEAST





a HUGE thanks to Mom, Aunt Kari and Nana!!! They painted the little guys room! Steph even came and helped too!! She brought Carter, and we put my dog to the test! He got an At! He did great with the baby, and was really concerned about him and making sure he was ok. It was funny. We are supposed to decorate this weekend, and hopefully we will be done :) We shall see.
Say a little prayer for the little man, that his bladder is ok!! I will keep everyone updated!

xoxo
Tay