Sleeping with Papa

Papa and Ella taking a nap together on the couch

To Houston

After visiting the Aunt Sandy we headed to Gram's Parents' (G & P as they're affectionately called). Michelle was in from L.A. and was a trooper while holding a not so happy Ella. It was getting late and Miss Ella had already had a really long day...

Christmas Day in Houston

After getting back to Austin from San Antonio on Christmas Eve night we turned around and headed to Houston on Christmas day. We stopped by to visit Aunt Sandy, Uncle Jerry, Eric, Greg, Stacey, Wava and Jason just after arriving in Houston. Ella did very well on her first long car ride at 2 weeks old. She was very social once we got there too!

Visiting Family

We made a trip out to Grandma and Grandpa Fleming's ranch on Lake Medina in Mico, Texas so they could meet their great grand daughter for the first time. They loved her and as long as she had the pacifier in her mouth, she was a happy camper!

Mommy and Daddy even got a break - we took off riding around the ranch in the golf cart and took silly pictures of ourselves : )

Miss Ella Makes Her Entrance!

At about 9pm Sunday evening, December 10th, I started to have contractions. Kevin (or Papa as I started calling him) was in Houston due to go to work on Monday morning bright and ealry - and I was sure when I left work on Friday that I would be right back on Monday too! When I called him he was just getting back over to Gram and Pop's house from hanging out with Uncle Blake. Pop surprised him with being home. Pop said he decided to come on over because he knew Miss Ella was coming soon. Since the contractions were so sporadic at that point I told Papa to hold off and stay there just in case it wasn't the real thing, although Pop was sure it was. All evening I went about doing laundry and my normal night time routine, stopping every so often to bend over or sit down when the contraction was particularly strong. I finally decided to try to go to bed around 11:30pm. I never did really get to sleep. As the night progressed, the contractions got stronger and closer together. About 4:30am, with contractions coming about every 12-15 minutes, I decided this was probably the real thing and called Papa. He jumped up, woke Pop and told him he was on his way home. Pop told him he would be shortly behind him. Papa arrived home about 7am. He showered and packed and so did I. We hadn't even put the car seat in, so we did that too, inbetween contractions which were now about 10 minutes apart and extremely powerful. I wanted to be at home for as long as possible so we didn't decide to leave until about 10am. The doctor's office had told me to come there first, so we followed instructions and by the time we got there I was already at 6cm dilated and in some pretty intense pain. All the nurses were running around like crazys thinking Ella was going to make her entrance right there in the office before we could even get to the hospital! They threw me in a wheelchair and literally ran me out of the office and over to the hospital with Papa struggling to catch up from behind. As it turns out I continued to labor and our precious Ella finally arrived at 3:04pm after much work and struggle. Pop and Uncle Trey were the first to greet her in the delivery room after all the work was done. We had been in such a panic that we hadn't even brought our bags in. The first pictures that were taken were on a disposable camera Uncle Trey happened to bring with him! Our lives would never be the same. Welcome Ella Aline Fleming! We have waited for and loved you for a very long time now!