Over the River and Through the Woods (1200 miles) to Grandmother's House We Go

In Elin's short life of 4 months she has already been on two vacations.  Since I have been a little busy lately I have combined them both into one blog.

September

At 7 weeks old Elin and I flew to Salt Lake for a long weekend.  She did surprisingly well on the flight and had a great time visiting with her cousins who kept her very amused. My Dad also flew in from Colorado so that he could meet Elin (Grandma Aila came to Seattle just after she was born).

Aunt Julie & Olivia

Grandpa Gillespie ("Pappy")

Aunt Leina

Sy, Ella, Elin, Noah & Marty

Olivia

MJ

Smiling at Pappy

She also met our good friends the Esplins who we consider family.

 Steve, Nalyn, Annika, Emily Kate & Jenoa

November

For Thanksgiving we traveled 600 miles by car each way to Townsend Montana to spend the holiday with the Scoffield family and to attend our niece Olivia's baptism. We had a huge snowstorm in Seattle just before we left (4.5 inches in our backyard). We went across Snoqualmie pass and it looked like a winter wonderland. It was also 20 degrees. In fact, the entire week we were gone we never had temperatures above 25.  The coldest place was on McDonald Pass just before Helena MT where it was -7. 

Elin did really well in the car. We split the trip into two parts each way (5-6 hours each leg) and she mostly slept.

  

Our nephew Hayden rode with us part of the way to Montana and helped to keep Elin amused. She especially loved looking at his iPod.

We had a great time visiting with James' parents, his sister Julie and her daughter Olivia, and his brother Russell and his family.  Holidays are always more fun and special when you can spend them with family and the people that you love. 

Lisa, Trevor, Russell, Hunter, Tristan and Hayden Scoffield

GG and Papa with Elin

We also got to visit with Grandma Hunter who is 92 years old. She is such a cute lady and we were excited to introduce her to Elin. There are 4 generations of Hunters in this picture.

On Olivia's 8th Birthday (11-26-10) she was baptized into the LDS church.  We were happy that we could be there to support Olivia on her special day.

James and Grandpa Scoffield gave Elin her baby blessing on Sunday after church to officially put her name on the records of the church. She seemed to really enjoy it.

It has been fun to introduce our little Elin to her family over the past couple of months. We are so thankful to have such wonderful families and we look forward to many more memorable vacations and holidays with all of them.

Maija 

And then there were three...

Where in the world are James and Maija?  We are at home with a new baby which has put any travel plans on hold for just a while.

This is the story of our baby "journey".  It started in November when we found out we were pregnant.

At 12 weeks we had an ultrasound and could see the baby for the first time.   It really looks more like a bean than a baby at this point, but we were able to see that something was really in there.....

and it confirmed for us that this really was real.   16 weeks of stomach sickness for me also confirmed it.

Ultrasound at 4 months (16 weeks)

At 5 months (20 weeks) we were able to find out the sex of the baby.  

It's a GIRL!!!

We went on a 2 week trip to Italy in the 2nd trimester (5.5 months pregnant) which is where the baby bump finally started to show...just a little....

Then she just started to grow and grow (both baby and mama)

 6 months (26 weeks)

 Ultrasound at 7 months (28 weeks)
Estimated baby weight - 3.2 pounds

6.5 months (30 weeks)

We had an ultrasound at 32 weeks (8 months) and they did a 3D image of the baby. It was so exciting to see a glimpse of her cute face. Her estimated weight at 32 weeks was 4 lbs 13 ounces.

Meanwhile, Mama continued to grow...

8 1/2 months (33 weeks)

At 37 weeks, they did another ultrasound to measure the growth of the baby (she was trending big due to gestational diabetes).  We were told that she was 9 pounds!!!! and would likely need to be delivered by C-Section due to a condition caused by the gestational diabetes called macrosomia which leads to shoulder dystocia (the shoulders are too big to fit through the birth canal).  We were scheduled for a tentative C-Section on July 29th depending on the growth of the baby in the next two weeks.

9 months (37 weeks)

Mama also grew alot.....

9+ months, 37 weeks (3 weeks to go)

This is what I look like with an estimated 9 pound baby

On July 29th the ultrasound showed an estimated weigh of 10 lbs and the doctor decided that we would go ahead with the C-Section that afternoon.

9.75 months (39 weeks)

Elin Sofia Scoffield arrived on July 29, 2010 at 4:50 pm. She was 8 lbs 13 oz and 20.25 inches long. She had a great set of lungs and a full head of hair.

2 days old

3 days old, leaving the hospital

4 days old

9 days old

12 days old

It has been a remarkable, amazing and humbling experience to have Elin finally here. We love her so much and we are so happy to have her as a part of our family.

As soon as we have her passport we will resume our travels....at least we hope.

Maija