It's a girl

Well, I (Mark) am stuck writing this blog since Elizabeth is still in the hospital. I've been up for well over 24 hours, so I apologize for keeping this short.

We are pleased to announce Grace Ann Williams, who was born on 11/14/08 at 4:04am. She weighed 7 lbs 4 oz and measured 20.5" long.

Elizabeth is unbelievable. We were sent to the hospital at 5pm on 11/13/08, since she was well into labor. She refused all pain medication and went through 3 hours of pushing in the early morning hours of 11/14/08. For the safety of the baby, birth was via C-section. Elizabeth is doing great and has been the talk of all the nurses for managing the pain so well.

Here are just a few photos. More to follow...

Waiting...

Yes, we're still waiting for Baby's arrival. I must say, I'm getting quite impatient, even though we haven't reached to our due date yet. I'm just so anxious to meet this precious little baby that I've carried around for the last 9 months. Our doctors appointments the last few weeks have gone well and there is progress--which is good and bad. It's great to know we're getting close but at the same time, when there's progress you expect it to happen right away and it doesn't! Soon though...very soon...hopefully :)

Belly Shots

I am obsessed with baby pictures and because of this I went on a long search to find a photographer to document Grace/Graff's first year. We ended up with McGreevy-Marks Photography. I didn't think I wanted to do belly shots until a few weeks ago when it dawned on me that the belly isn't going to be here much longer. So, today Mark and I went to Christy's studio and had our pictures taken. It was a gorgeous day--more summerish than fall and we were able to do some outdoor shots.

She posted a few more samples on her blog but the one above is our favorite so far :)

http://mcgreevymarksphoto.wordpress.com/

Happy Halloween!

What a fun Halloween Mark and I had this past Friday. The Linvills came over and brought little Porter so he could trick-or-treat at our house. It was definitely a treat to have him come over--he is so cute! Don't you just love his pumpkin costume?

Jenn, Mark and Porter

You should get used to me making this face--for some reason I always am the one who responds to people trying to get the baby to smile but I don't smile--I make this face :)

Is that a pumpkin in there?

Mark and I then went to the Communication Department's annual Halloween party. We dressed as the couple from the movie Juno--simple outfit for us and so fun since it was one of our favorite movies that came out during last year's holiday season--check it out if you haven't seen it :) The funniest part of the evening was when one of the new students came up and said, "Your belly looks so real, it even has the belly button sticking out, what did you put in there?" And then as she touched my stomach, she exclaimed, "Oh and it feels real too!" To which I grinned and said, "It is!" She was so embarrassed but all I could do was laugh!

6 years and counting

Today marks 6 years of marriage for Mark and I. It's hard to believe that so much time has gone by...it feels like just yesterday that we were in the chapel at Alma College exchanging our vows. I must say, I love him even more today than I did six years ago. He's my best friend and I have been so blessed to share so many adventures with him over years and am so excited to start our next adventure as parents together!

A great weekend!

This past weekend was spectacular! It was both Mark's birthday and my final baby shower. We were blessed to have several of Mark's family members come into town for the celebration. Several arrived in Indy on Friday night and we had a great dinner at Mark's parents' home--they were amazing hosts the ENTIRE weekend!

With Grace/Graff's Great Grandmas

Daisy loves to celebrate Mark's Birthday!

Saturday was Mark's 30th birthday (yes THIRTY!!!) . He commemorated the milestone by running in the Indianapolis Marathon that morning. His sister, Amy, and cousin, Brian, ran the first half of the marathon with him which helped considerably! This was his 11th marathon. He is a member of the 50 States Club and his goal is to run a marathon in each of the 50 states. A highlight of the race was Mark seeing the Governor of Indiana standing on the corner cheering on the racers. Governor Daniels is an alum of Mark's highschool so of course Mark gave North Central a shout out!


Post-marathon we had another great evening at the Williams' house. Fun times with family and friends--lots of food, playing of Bags, and watching babies.

Grace/Graff's friends can't wait for her/his arrival!
Shanna and Gabe, Jill and Noah, and Joy and Caleb

The girl cousins--Lynn, Shanna, Anne, Gloria, Joy, Amy, and I

The soon-to-be grandmas!

The final party was on Sunday. Mark's family put on a fabulous shower for Baby Grace/Graff and me. They thought of all the little details. It was a delicious meal, the tables were gorgeous (complete with little bags of green and yellow M&M's with the names Grace and Graff imprinted on them!), the cake was both delicious and beautiful, and the entryway had an adorable diaper cake courtesy of Aunt Janet (notice the Hawkeye on the pacifier in the giraffe's mouth!). It was a great afternoon with all of the Williams/Hone families and all of the Williams' family friends who I have been so blessed to get to know over the years!

All the hostesses--GG Hone, Amy, Aunt Janet, Aunt Julie,
Aunt Barb, and Soon-to-be Grandma Williams

All of the Grandmas

This was the biggest surprise of the shower. Mark's mom made this quilt for Grace/Graff. The fabric is based on the Hungry Caterpillar book and is absolutely adorable. There were two matching pillows and the book with a little stuffed caterpillar. It was simply adorable and will definitely be something that Baby will cherish for years to come.

What an amazing weekend and what a fabulous family we have! Grace/Graff is so lucky to be joining such a great group!

The Williams boys--Brian, Caleb and Mark

The cousins: Shanna, Anne, Brian, Greg, Amy,
E, Mark, Lynn, Caleb, Rick and Lynn

One month to go!

Well it's October 13th--that means we're exactly one month (or 31 days) from our due date!!! We are getting so excited! We had a doctor's appointment last Thursday and are now on the weekly schedule--another sign that we are nearing the end of pregnancy and the beginning of parenthood. The appointment went well and calmed many of my fears. First, the baby is still in position and the doctor indicated that the chance of it flipping out of position is only 1%--not bad odds. The other piece of good news is that the doctor thinks the baby is about 4 1/2 to 5 lbs right now. Since at this point babies typically gain 1/2 lb. a week, he is predicting the baby will be beteen 7 and 8 lbs. Perfect size!

With the big day feeling closer and closer, we have been busy doing things around the house to prepare. To start with, we finally got our curtains hung in the nursery and put a new fan up. Doesn't it look better than the old black one?

We are still waiting for the crib and dresser to come in but we did receive a small pillow so we were able to put the sham on it. This gives you an idea of what the bedding looks like. Aren't the bees cute?


Since we don't have the crib yet, and we want Baby close by for at least the first month or two, we borrowed a bassinet. It's all set up in our bedroom just in case Baby decides to come early.


While we've been working on projects in the Baby's room, Daisy has found her new favorite spot. We got her a doggy bed for the Baby's room. Some of the people in our lamaze class have worked on training their dogs to stay out of the nursery but I think Daisy will adjust much better to having Baby in the house if she's able to be included, so here she is on her bed in the nursery.

Speaking of Daisy, Mark was able to catch this picture of her last week as she and I were relaxing. She already loves little Grace/Graff!


In other exciting news, we celebrated my birthday this past weekend. The last one in my twenties--yikes!!! Mark planned a great date night on Friday. We went to a corn maze just south of Lafayette. I had always wanted to do one and this one was amazing! It was perfect weather for a walk through the corn. We then went to dinner at a restaurant we had never tried in a nearby little town and caught a late movie (The Duchess--I'd recommend it, not Mark's cup of tea, though). Mark also surprised me with a perfect birthday gift--a digital video camera. It's one of the Flip cameras which captures everything right on the camera and has a USB thingy that pops out and downloads right to your computer. It will be perfect for catching all of Baby's special moments and sharing them with friends and family! The celebration continued Saturday night (yes--I definitely felt spoiled!) with dinner and a visit to Comedy Sportz in Indianapolis with Mark's family. Dinner was at a new tapas restaurant downtown, Zing, and believe it or not the weather was nice enough for us to sit on the balcony. Good food and great company :-) A very fun weekend, indeed!