New Ellie Video

Here's a video my wonderful husband put together of our little girl. He told me that making this made him love her even more. A big thanks to our good friend Kim who took these pictures of Ellie. You are the greatest!

I'm surviving!

I just wanted to update and thank everyone who have shown our little family so much love and support this past week. I am overwhelmed with all the kindness we have recieved and I am very grateful for all of you!
I am also so grateful to have my mom here. She has been so helpful and I'm really going to miss her when she's gone......how am I going to juggle things on my own? Yesterday I was able to visit Logan for lunch and sit with him and all his little friends in the lunch room. I had so much fun! All of the kids were asking millions of questions and each had something to say about everything. Logan was so happy and gave me a big kiss infront of everyone. (I know he wouln't be caught dead doing that in a year or two)
Lincoln and Owen are sweet, kind older brothers. They are starting to give her a little more space now, which I'm sure she appreciates. Ellie is an absolute Angel! She eats well, sleeps well, and keeps me staring at her constantly. I'm so happy to have my little girl! Here's a couple of pics. I better go feed the littlest.

Baby Ellie's Monkey Toes

Baby Ellie has long monkey toes. She ought to fit in well with her monkey brothers.



Baby Ellie

It has been brought to my attention, from a variety of sources, that the blog could use more pictures of Ellie and as you all know, I am nothing if not a man of the people. So here she is.

Family Visit

The boys and Grandma came by yesterday afternoon to meet Ellie. It was probably the craziest 10 minutes I have ever gone through. It was like someone dropped a crate of super bouncy balls in a racquetball court. They were so excited to see their Mom and so excited to see Ellie, but also so excited to see Becki's lunch of chicken fingers and her blood pressure machine and the sink and the garbage can and my computer and....you get the picture.

We tried to wrangle them in for a picture and this is the best we could do.

Logan was already being the protective brother and gave Owen a stiff arm when he got too close. Owen slipped through the defense one time and poked Ellie right in the eye. She squawked and he thought that was pretty funny.

Lincoln loved holding her. He was all smiles.

Logan was pretty happy too.

Grandma was helping us wrangle, but she did get a chance to hold her newest granddaughter.

more later.

I'd Like to Introduce You to.....

I finally got my little baby girl and she is perfect. We went and checked on her in the NICU and she is doing great. We expect to see her in our room in the next few minutes. Right now it's a race between her and some chicken strips, but I think I'm cheering for her to make it first. I think.

Her name is Elena Esperanza Kanigan, but we will call her Ellie. She was born this morning at 11:34 and she weighed 5 lbs. 9 oz. and was 19 in. long.



Everyone is happy and doing well. My thanks to all of the kind words and well wishes we've received today.



more later.

She's Here

Wow. I guess I should have known better than to think this last one would come easily. We're getting to be veterans at this and you'd think it would run like clockwork, but not this time.

At about 11:30 the heart rate monitor wasn't beeping the same way it ought to be so we called the nurse in. She kind of rushed in and then picked up her phone, made a call and said, "Yep." Then the door burst open and 5 nurses came running into the room. The paramedic was standing at the back of the room and nurses were shifting and rushing and spouting acronyms and words I'd only heard from George Clooney back in his days on ER.

One of the nurses was yelling into her phone for the doctor to come and another was lowering the head of Becki's bed while another one strapped an oxygen mask on Becki's face.

The Doctor came in and started audibling people around like a quarterback. I could tell he was scared but trying to put me at ease, which by the way, never works because you're always wondering what he's not telling you. He got everything set up and bellowed for a vacuum and a nurse went scrambling after it. He looked up and told me that the cord had wrapped around the baby's neck three times and he got down to work.

Let me just pause for a minute to say that there is nothing in the world better than a confident, competent and careful doctor. He was really good and I knew he'd take care of business.

The whole delivery took all of about 5 minutes. When she came out she was past blue and wasn't breathing. One nurse whisked her to the little baby table and they put a little oxygen pump on her. At this point I was about ready to pass out, but then I heard her cry and she sounded great. Becki got to hold her for about 30 seconds and then they took the baby to the Newborn Intensive Care Unit, because she wasn't yet breathing on her own.




The doctor assured us everything would be okay and so far it has been. I got to go up to the NICU to see her and she seemed like she was doing well. They told me she had blood in her lungs, but they got it all cleared out and she is now breathing on her own.

5 lbs. 8 oz.
19 in.



Becki is doing better. I think she's exhausted, but she's doing fine.

more later.

Yay, Drugs!

The epidural is now in and Becki's feeling gooooooooood.

I got faked out by the first needle...again. Becki says that's 4 for 4. For those of you who have never seen an epidural up close, it's as frightening as you would imagine a massive spike to the spinal cord would be. She sits up on the bed and the doctor brings out what looks like a pretty good-sized needle and you think, "That's not as bad as I've heard." and then they tell you that the pretty good-sized one is the preliminary one and the real one is next, then they bring out a needle the size of a jack hammer and the father's knees get a little wobbly. But then it's over and the wife starts quoting Jim Morrison.

more later.

Live Baby Updates from the Hospital

Dan, here. I guess since Becki is strapped to monitors and computers and IVs, I'll do the updating.

We're here at Huntsville Hospital. We here at 5:00 this morning. We got settled in, Becki got pin-cushioned and I had some delicious cafeteria biscuits and gravy. (Hurray for Southern comfort food.)

With Owen, Becki got stuck 9 times before they could get her IV in. She's got evasive veins. This time it was only 5 with 2 "blown" veins. Now, I'm no doctor, but veins are something I don't want blown. On one of them her for arm got really cold and swelled up like someone snuck a golf ball under her skin. The anesthesiologist had to come and get her hooked up. He was another Southern gentleman, like our doctor, which makes things a little easier for us. Honestly, I'm pretty sure I'm more stressed out than Becki is.

Which brings me to the biscuits and gravy. I'm not sure if this is a staple in hospitals around the nation, but it sure was nice to go down there and have a brightly smiling old lady with the thickest drawl you could imagine call me "sugar" and heap an extra ladleful of country gravy onto my plate. Most husbands would gauge hospital quality on the comfort of their wife, I'm mostly concerned with good food.

The doctor just broke her water, so I guess we're getting ready to go.

more later.

Scrabble, Make-up and Pirates

It's funny that my children can have three very distinct personalities and each come from the same combination of Dan and me. I am very interested to see how our fourth little baby, especially being a girl, will be.


Lincoln is much more inverted than his brothers, though he doesn't have to be alone all the time. He likes to be with them, but he also likes to do his own thing. Lately he's been on a scrabble kick. He wants to play it EVERY day. He's very curious about words and numbers and seems to remember things he see's very well. I also think he is the more stubborn of the three. Sweet......but stubborn.

The other day I was working on the computer when Owen ran into the room wearing Daddy's shoes and my mascara! He'd applied it on his actual eye lash, which I was pretty impressed by (Dan was less than) and of course he'd decorated his entire body as well. I grabbed the camera as quickly as I could because this just shows his observant and very hands on approach to life. What a crazy boy.

Logan's personality, though similar to his brothers, is very unique in itself. He loves to invent. His mind is a never ceasing river of idea's. He cannot play with anything in a "regular" way, and he absolutely can't play with anything without making a mess. His voice has one volume.....loud. The best part of Logan is that he NEVER slows down. He and Owen are very similar that way.

She's almost here!

I am anxious and excited; I am cranky one minute, and happy the next next. I can't stop cleaning....anything! I think the time is almost here. Here's a few pictures of the proof that Ellie will be here soon.

This fake smile was the best I could come up with. Dan was laughing at me a lot and that didn't help! I don't like posing for a camera. :)

My little pirate giving Ellie a hug.

Sweet Lincoln loves Ellie. We didn't even have to pose for this one.

Here's what Owen was doing at the time. He fell asleep on the way home from church.

Go to sleep my little baby!

I decided to dedicate a post to the little moments when I love my children so much for all the sweetness and calmness I know they possess. Obviously they don't exhibit that calmness all the time, and so I think I appreciate these little moments even more! Sleeping children are a gift from Heavenly Father, I am sure. When else can you stare at them without having to chase them around and are able think about where they came from and what they can become? I found a LOT of sleepy shots as I searched back and I had to post as many as I could.

I really do love these boys!

An afternoon nap with the laundry

A sleepy ride through the gardens.

Umm, no explanation necessary.

Don't be fooled by Logan's open eyes. He IS asleep.

Two little monkeys

This one was from last night. Lincoln had a hard time staying in his bed. He wanted to be as close to us as he could.

One of Logan's first "professional" pictures.

That little sleeper is Linc. Look at Logan's hand. ohhwww!

Lincoln has always been able to fall asleep anywhere.

Now that I think of it, so has Owen.

That makes three!