Kelsey Morgan Hollis

Last Wednesday, December 16 at 3:30 pm, William, Karli, and I welcomed Kelsey Morgan Hollis into our family. She arrived at 8lbs 1oz and 20.5 inches long. We couldn't believe it was another girl, we honestly didn't expect it! William refused to discuss a girl name with me my entire pregnancy and the night before I delivered I asked again, just in case...he shushed me...LOL! He was confident, and also wrong! We were delighted with our new baby girl and absolute bundle of joy. We came home Thursday evening and since then our life has been interesting!

Karli is so thrilled that she is a big sister now. She constantly has to go and check on Kelsey while she's sleeping and keep me updated that she's "still sleeping, but ok." Karli has been quite the helper around the house and loves to help give Kelsey a bath. She sings to her and loves it when Kelsey holds her finger so tight.

For the most part Kelsey has been sleeping well, 2-3 hours at a time during the night with a few nights that have been long ones. Getting up every couple of hours or staying up with her hasn't been the problem. It's more or less having to get up with Karli bright and early the next morning and play. Staying up all night and all day over and over isn't good for anyone. If I could actually sleep during the day when the baby sleeps it would be alot easier, but a 4 year old doesn't exactly let you do that very well.

Karli loves to hold her baby sister and talk to her. Kelsey is very alert when she's up, looking all around at all of the Christmas lights. She seems to know my voice no matter my place in the room she looks that way! She seems so strong, if she's laying on her belly she will pick her head up and turn it the other way...it amazes me everytime! I look at her and think that I cannot believe she is actually still not gestation, meaning her due date isn't until the 30th. Kelsey was born at 38 weeks. It's hard to believe that I should have to carry this little joy for another week and a half before birth!

William has really enjoyed his time with his baby girl. He's such a good daddy and cannot walk by her without giving her kisses on her chubby little cheeks! He is now in a house with 3 girls and I have to laugh and think it's God's way of revenge...haha! In any case, both of his girls are daddy's girls, no doubt about it, and he wouldn't have it any other way!

We're so excited about our family of 4! We could not ask for a better Christmas than to spend it with each other and our 2 beautiful girls! Merry Christmas everybody, we hope it's as wonderful as ours!

Last Doctors Visit

Today I went to see my fabulous docs for my 38th week of pregnancy. There has been talk all along of induction earlier than my due date because of the fact that this may be a big baby. Karli was 9lbs 4oz, but she was 5 days over due. Today we did an ultrasound with Dr. Boehling for "fetal growth." He said from the beginning that ultrasound can sometimes "overshoot the weight," but the baby weight as of today was 8lbs 9oz........YIKES! Following that, I'm scheduled for induction Wednesday morning at 7:30am!!!! I really do have mixed emotions about it. Overall I'm super excited and more than ready to have our baby. On the other hand I am a little reserved due to the fact that I'm early and this may turn into a marathon labor because my body just simply isn't ready yet. I feel good about it though, Wednesday I'll be in the more than capable hands of Dr. Duruman and nurse midwife Karen! William is really excited and we are both ready to meet our second child. Since we didn't find out the sex of the baby it's even more exciting. I have to say that we do have a boy name picked out but William will not talk about girl names. He says he will be a proud father either way, he's just showing "confidence" that it's a boy...haha! So hopefully everything will go as planned this Wednesday and the next time I post something it will be to introduce you to the new him or her that will soon be such a wonderful part of our lives! Fingers crossed!!

Karli's Christmas Play

Tonight was the annual Christmas play at our church, Wesley Memorial United Methodist. First we all got toghether to have a fabulous dinner with tons of food then the show began. Karli was an angel and sang 2 songs in the play. There was not a more beautiful angel there, and I'm not even being partial...haha! Here are a few pics of her in action...

I was no other place than front and center to take pictures. She wouldn't look right at me and smile, ofcourse...but she was so proud of herself!

After the play was complete we were all visited by none other than Santa! Karli jumped right up and was the first one in line! She's had no hesitation this year when it comes to sitting in Santa's lap and telling him exactly what she wants. This year she told him she wanted a "castle." A barbie castle is what I'm thinking. His response was, "is that all you want, just one thing?" She says yes! What a cool kid...haha!

Please Mom...Please!

"Please Mom, Please! Can I just fall asleep in your bed. When I go to sleep you can put me in my room and I promise I'll stay there, but can me and Rosco just please go to sleep in here?!?" I gave in, she was too cute!

Say Cheese!

Just one picture I took tonight that I thought was precious! They are growing so fast I can hardly believe it. What one does the other follows. Only two days apart, these two have grown up hand in hand and I could not be more thankful!

Ewww....Lemons!

So...we went out to dinner Saturday night with Stephen, Bridget, and Stephen Jr. Stephen Jr infomred me that he likes to eat lemons and wanted mine out of my tea. Curious to see this for myself I gladly handed it over. This is what followed. I just thought it was too cute to not share...Karli got a good laugh out of it. However, he continued to eat the entire lemon...amazing to me!

Christmas Festivities

Friday night Karli, Stephen, Bridget, and myself went downtown Columbia to see the Christmas festivities going on for Rivertown Christmas. Friday night they had a parade of boats on the river all lit up with christmas lights and on the last one appeared none other than Santa Clause!


They had the boardwalk roped off so nobody could get across but Bridget and I are loud enough that ofcourse we got Karli and Stephen across and a picture with Santa! How uncomfortable does Karli look in this picture?!!

This is what two happy peas in a pod look like when they get to spend time with each other!

Nursery

Alot of people have been asking me if we have the nursery ready and want to know what it looks like. So...these are a few pictures of our unfinished room. It's green and we decided to put the aquarium in the corner for a night light, plus it sounds very soothing we think! I have the swing and carrier in there for now. The changing table will go on the other wall and we also have a custom built armior opposite the crib.

I love this bedding set. Although dragonflies make me think girl, I just love the green and brown combination. So either way this turns out (boy/girl) I'm very happy with it!

Daddy and Me

Karli loves the time she gets to spend with her daddy...especially when it's outside time. Last week Karli and William went for a walk in the woods to look for deer, this is the picture I took before they left. It's one of my favorites and I just had to share.

They both look so excited don't they? She received this outfit from her MiMi (William's mother) and she calls it her "hunting gear for daddy time." I just find it precious!

Thanksgiving

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I just thought I'd share a couple of pictures my sister snapped Thursday night that had me laughing. Still a few weeks away from my due date I look at this picture and wonder how in the world my belly can continue to grow without breaking me in half...haha! I guess I'm just lucky enough to have a wonderful husband that will do things like cook dinner and rub my back. I feel so bad because the past few months I've been freezing him out every night. It's 40 degrees outside and I still sleep with a fan and barely any covers while he's wrapped up like a mummy next to me in blankets and a down comforter! He's been so good to me! My sister-in-law, Bridget, is due in February! She has quite a ways to go to catch up, it looks like I'm about to knock her over! Since neither one of us know the sex of our babies the next couple of months are going to be fun! It's nice to have someone to be pregnant with, that way you can complain to each other and not feel too bad!

We'll look back on these pictures and laugh...Lara says what a cute Christmas card - haha!

The Beginning

I cannot believe the holidays are already among us...this means the 4th little Hollis in our family is bound to make his or her entrance any week now! I know that William and I have family spread out all around, so we thought this would be a great way to keep everyone updated with events and pictures! Karli is growing so fast! She will be 5 in March, boy does time fly! We cannot believe how big and beautiful she has become, and so fast at that!

Karli started taking ballet lessons this fall and boy does she enjoy showing us her spins all around the house!

Karli is so excited to meet her little brother or sister she doesn't quite know what to do! She has been practicing changing diapers and feeding her babydolls so she can "be mommies helper!" How sweet is that! Every night before she goes to bed she has to kiss my belly to tell the baby goodnight!