Firsts for Charlie...

Charlie has had a lot of first's over the past few weeks.  Justin and I have had so much fun with our little man!  Here are just a few things that Charlie did for the first time:

When he was just four days old he had his first pediatrician appointment with Dr. Hieber.  He lost a few ounces at that visit, which he said was normal.  We went back the next week and he had passed his birth weight and was doing much better on his feedings. Yay Charlie!! Here we are at his first pediatrician appointment....we are so proud of our little guy!!!

Heading to the appointment.....

Walking in.....

In the waiting room....

A couple of days later he had his first 'photo shoot'.  It was so much fun and the photographer did an amazing job!!  Here are a few of my favorites. Isn't he precious?!  Once we get more I will post them.  

The following week, his umbilical cord fell off, which meant that could give him his first full bath.  Charlie was not a fan of this, but I think when he gets older he will love bath time.  Justin did such a great job with him and we loved having our family time!

After his bath, was my favorite part of the night.  I read him his first book- On the night you were born. I have been waiting to do this for years and was so excited!!  I can already tell he is going to have a love for books, just like his mom. :)

We love you Charlie and can't wait for more firsts!!

Welcome Miles Henry Boggs

January has been such an exciting month for the Boggs family.  Miles Henry Boggs was born in the morning of Saturday, January 15th.  He was 9 lbs, 7 oz and 21 inches long.  Isn't he beautiful?! We can't wait for Charlie to meet his cousin. Congrats Matt and Dawn....we are so happy for y'all!! :)

Minutes after birth.....

Sleeping peacefully...

Mom, Dad, and Maw-Maw flew out to California to be there within hours of his birth. Here are a few pictures of everyone with the newest addition to the family.  We wish we could have been there too.

The proud parents to Miles Henry...

 Mom, Dad, Matt, and Miles

 Mom, Maw-Maw, Miles, and Matt

 Nana holding Miles for the first time

Rucker Baby Shower

Since Charlie came five weeks early, I never had a chance to post pictures from the baby shower that Christina and Janet threw for us.  It was at 4:00 on January 2nd- the day of Charlie's birthday- at the hospital.  Everything was beautiful, and I so appreciate everyone being so flexible and moving it to the hospital, once they found out I was on hospital bed rest.

Here are the beautiful decorations......

My mom and Justin opened the gifts while I watched on in my wheelchair.  Everyone was very cautious that I would not overdo myself. 

Thanks so much to the Soroski's for making the drive up from Houston to celebrate with us.  Little did they know that they would be here for Charlie's birth, as well.  Thank goodness, as Jana installed Charlie's car seat while I was in labor! 

It was a beautiful shower, and I so appreciate everyone's love and support for sweet baby Charlie. 

After the shower, I went back to my hospital room around 6:00 to rest and hopefully have a calm evening.  At 6:30, my water broke.  I was already dilated to 7cm and was rushed downstairs to Labor & Delivery.  Most of our family was still here from the shower, so it was perfect timing! Charlie arrived 4 hours later at 10:31pm.  Here is my last belly shot taken before the shower, the day Charlie was born.  

Meet Charlie Austin

Happy birthday Charlie Austin.  Charlie was a wonderful New Years surprise that arrive January 2nd, 2011 at 10:31 pm.  We are so lucky and blessed that he is healthy being born 5 weeks early.  He is perfect and we love him already!!!

Enjoy the slideshow of a few of our favorites from his first week of life......

NYE at Perot North

Happy New Year everyone! We never thought that we would celebrate our last New Years Eve as a family of two in the hospital, but we definetly made the most of it! Justin brought over one of my favorite meals- Manny's fish tacos and chips and queso.  It was wonderful!!! Especially since the hospital food is getting really old...plus I can't eat a lot of it because of my food allergies.  It was a nice treat.....I loved it!!!

When we were done my parents came over.  We watched bowl games and Mom introduced us to 'Words with Friends'.  We have never played before but everyone quickly caught on and loved it!!

Thank you Justin and my parents for spending their NYE with me in room 467.  We are already making special memories and little Charlie hasn't even made his arrival yet.  I'm looking forward to all that 2011 has to bring with baby Charlie on the way.  Plus his cousin Miles (his future BFF) could be born within the same week....or even the same day as him! It is going to an exciting year!!!

Merry Christmas from Room 467

Sorry for the lack of blog posts lately.  So much has happened since the last time I posted in November.  Wednesday, December 15th is a day that I will never forget.  I was having a lot of contractions and heavy bleeding leading up to this day, but I really thought it was nothing and just normal signs of being 32 weeks pregnant.  I saw my doctor on Monday and he said everything was fine and that I could go along with my normal activities.  Then Wednesday came and the bleeding and contractions had gotten progressively worse.  I went to school that day and called my doctor to see what he thought.  He immediately said I needed to check into Labor and Delivery.  I really couldn't believe it.....little Charlie was supposed to be a Valentine baby, not a Christmas baby!  My principal rushed me to the hospital, Justin was on his way, and we first had a sonogram.  We found out that Charlie was okay, but my cervix was very short and they checked me into Labor and Delivery.  At this point the contractions were very heavy and they gave me a few shots to stop it.

Here I am when I was checked into L&D on December 15th.  I was pretty worn out and emotional at this point.  I had no idea what was coming......

Once the contractions stopped and things were more stable I was moved into my new home....Perot North Room 467.  We tried to make it as festive as we could, being that it was my favorite time of the year...Christmas.  My mom bought us the cute Christmas tree.  Isn't it adorable?! Many people have brought up flowers, plants, and decorations to make the room feel like home.  Justin knows how much I love Christmas cards so he brought them up each night for me to open.  Here are a few shots of what is now my new home for a while....

Here I am during my first few days here....

Justin has been wonderful and so supportive and calm during all this! It makes me realize more and more what a great dad he is going to be....

Being here on Christmas was not really what I expected, but we made the most of it.  Justin brought me a steak dinner on Christmas Eve which was wonderful! The best meal I've had in a while.  My family came over on Christmas Eve and we had the gift exchange in the hospital room.  Then on Christmas Day the Rucker's came to exchange gifts.  Everyone really tried hard to still make the day feel special and I'm very thankful for that! Charlie is very lucky to be born into such a great family!!!

My doctor said I will for sure be here until January 3rd or 4th and we will go from there.  I will be on some sort of bed rest (hospital or home) until he makes his arrival, which they are thinking now will be sometime in January! We are hoping to make it until at least January 17th, which is when he will be full term.   The contractions continue to come back almost on a daily basis, so I know this is where I need to be. The good news is that I am being watched for 24/7 by some wonderful nurses.  They have really taken great care of me! Little Charlie is doing great too! All the sonograms show that he is growing right along and is a healthy weight.  He has just outgrown his room and is ready to make his appearance.  All the nurses comment on how active he is and I always agree. We are hoping he stays put for at least a few more weeks!

 Thanks so much for everyone's thoughts and prayers!  We really appreciate all your love, support, and help during this time.  Keep on praying for baby Charlie and we will definitely keep you updated!! 

Christmas Card Pictures....

About a month ago, my brother-in-law Adam, took our Christmas card photo and a few maternity shots for us.  We were pretty excited for him to take our pictures, but little did we know that he was such the photographer!!! They turned out so good, it was hard to pick one to use for our Christmas card this year.  Plus, it is pretty special to have these pictures during this special time.  It will be fun to show Charlie these pictures when he gets older.  Here are a few of our favorites.  Also, look how well Ripley did too.....we were so proud of him!!!!

And the winner was......

Thank you so much Adam for taking these for us!!!! We so appreciated it and loved all of them!! 

Baby Shower

A few weeks ago, we had our first baby shower for little Charlie.  It was wonderful and the hostess really out did themselves to make it super special for us!

Here is the precious monkey diaper cake.  I loved it!!! Isn't is cute?!

Here is the food table.  The picture is a little dark, but you can still see how cute it is.  Everything was wonderful! 

Here I am with my mom and my two grandmas.....

The wonderful hostess who out did themselves to make everything so special.....

We were blessed with so many wonderful presents for sweet Charlie!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

We really appreciated everyone who came and spent your Saturday showering us!! 

Operation Nursery

We are officially starting on the nursery.  Justin started painting the room this weekend.  It took a while to decide on a color, but we finally did.  The walls will be a yellowish color and the bedding is green, blue, and brown.  Our furniture arrives December 11th, so we wanted to have the walls done before it arrives.  

Here the room is before he started painting it.  Not sure Ripley knows what is going on......

Here is Justin starting to paint.  We can't wait to see it all finished and for sweet Charlie to be in his new room! Only 11 more weeks!!! 

Stay tuned for more nursery updates over the next few weeks!!!!