Baby Announcements

I am getting the list ready of who I'm sending an announcement to. I'd love to send one to ALL of you but I need your address. Please e-mail me at melissamikesell@hotmail.com with your address and put "address" as the subject. Thanks! And here's a couple pictures our our cute little bundle.

She's Here!

Celeste Emma Mikesell was born Monday, April 28, 2008 at 4:20 pm. She is 6 pounds 13 ounces and 20 inches long. Everyone is doing fabulous! We got to come home on Tuesday at about 5:00 pm. I never got around to posting this, but the last week of my pregnancy I had high blood pressure they were worried about. I also had some other signs of toxemia so Friday they checked my blood and it came back fine. They just wanted to keep a close eye on me so I had to go to the hospital OB on Sunday for what we thought was going to be a short blood pressure check. It was still high and he didn't want to take the risk of it turning into toxemia so he decided to induce before it got really bad. They decided to induce Monday morning but wouldn't let me go home Sunday night. So there I slept (actually I didn't sleep at all) and Monday morning at 6:00 am they started me. They broke my water at about 8:45, I got an epidural at 10:30, took a couple hour nap and delivered at 4:20. Everyone was doing great so we were fortunate to be able to come home today, Tuesday, at 5:00 pm. Ryan and I are so happy and feel so blessed. She is precious and we love her to pieces!

I look aweful, but I really did feel pretty good! Very proud Daddy and Grandma Mikesell
Grandma and Grandpa Harrison and Uncle Quinton
First bath...see all her hair?
Daddy getting her dressed

Happy Birthday!

Today is Ryan's birthday. Happy Birthday Honey! I'm so grateful for you and all you do for me and for our family. I love you! (Yes, that is Ryan skiing a few years ago.)

Pregnancy Update

First of all, this past Saturday my wonderful friends threw me a baby shower. It was a great party and I couldn't have been happier. Thanks girls! Here are a couple pictures from it.

Last, I think I spoke too soon when I said I've had an easy pregnancy. Don't get me wrong, my pregnancy has still been great and easy, but things have gone a little down hill the last few weeks. About 2 weeks ago, I came down with what I think was bronchitis. My doctor gave me some antibiotics but it didn't really take care of it. Now it's in my head/sinuses. Then yesterday, I came down with pink eye and it's spread to both eyes. And Ryan's been in bed all day long with the flu. We're just a bed of roses over here today! My feet have also started to swell. This is the worst they've ever been. This picture was taken last Friday night. It's disgusting, I know, sorry!

Yesterday I couldn't get on any of my Sunday shoes so I had to wear my Crocs to church. That was embarrassing.

Keep checking the blog...our nursery is almost complete so I'll post pictures of it soon!

70's Party

Last Friday night, a group of our friends got together and we had a 70's party. We had to dress up in 70's costumes and had fondue. Then we played the Wii, not that that's 70's, but it was still fun. It was our first time playing Guitar Hero and as you can see in the last picture, I had to really focus! These were the Hippe costumes Ryan and I came up with. It was a great night. Thanks Fowlers!

36 Weeks

Wow! Time is flying by way too quickly! Things are still going well, which we are grateful for. And I tell you, it's great having connections with the doctor. Yesterday he decided to do another sonogram for the fun of it. That's my fifth sonogram this pregnancy, and I'm not complaining! It's been a lot of fun. I actually enjoy being pregnant. I guess maybe I cherish it because of all the trouble I had getting pregnant. My doctor and nurse have said to me, "Man, Melissa, for all you went through to get pregnant, you are having an easy pregnancy." Ryan and I have been so blessed and are so grateful for our little girl. So here is one of the pictures from the sonogram. Once they're this big, it's really hard to see. Hopefully you can pick out her facial features in this picture. She has quite the chubby cheeks! I've also added a picture of me I took today, after a long day at work, so I appologize how I look. Enjoy!

P.S. In case anyone was wondering, the cakes I finally finished last Friday turned out quite yummy and we're still trying to eat all the leftovers!

Disaster

A few of my friends have told me I'm the best cook ever. I have them fooled is the truth. Let me tell you a story to prove myself. Tonight is my sisters wedding reception and I volunteered to make some of the sheet cakes that we'll be serving. I was assigned the carrot cakes and have a wonderful recipe. However, the recipe is huge and usually makes a 3 layer circle cake. The recipe said you can use a sheet cake pan, so I believed it. I made the batter and feared it would flow over. I kept my eye on it and everything was going good. Then disaster struck. I noticed smoke coming out of the top of the stove so I looked in the oven and it had over flown from the back and was dripping right on the metal heating things! Smoke was quickly filling my house and a fire was about to start. I called my mom in a panic to see what to do. (I was worried about ruining the cake.) I ended up just taking the cake out of the oven...it probably would have tasted smokey anyways...and had to open up every window in my house. I wish I would have taken a picture to make a better post out of this, but I wasn't thinking about that then! After I broke down and gave myself the talk I give my preschool kids, "Crying's not going to solve anything. What can I do to fix it?" I just started cleaning, airing out the house, and started a new batch. So, ended up making 4 sheet cakes all this morning, 3 of which turned out. (The one that I had to take over becuase it over flowed is in the trash, and that's a whole other story of me trying to get it in the trash bag...I made a huge mess!) I ended up peeling and grating 5 lbs of carrots. My hands are died orange and my wrists are so sore it hurts to move them. My feet are also sore and swollen. These cakes better taste good! The last cake is in the oven...wish me luck! So that's the story of the last 4 hours. Oh, I forgot to mention I plugged the garbage disposal so I only had half a sink to work in and wash dishes. I don't know how Ryan unplugs it and he wasn't available at work to talk to. It really was a disaster!