The Sweetest Valentine

Headed to PF Chang's for date night with Mom & Dad

Mommy's little pumpkin

Our sweet Valentine

Hanging with her new friend, 6 week old Makenna Nicksick

Proud Daddys Matt & Eric

Proud Mommys Me & Annie

Sleeping Beauty

Snug as a bug

Love the bow :)

Our little Bella celebrated her first holiday this week and Matt and I had the sweetest Valentine ever this year!! We have had such a wonderful couple of weeks and Isabella has gotten to meet so many new friends. She is growing so fast and her personality comes through in so many ways...even though it looks like all she does is sleep from our pictures...she really does have her awake hours where she stares and makes hysterical faces at Matt and I. We have coined some of them and she has her "smirk" her "poltergeist look" and even her "toothless grin" which all crack us up :)

I cannot tell you how surreal the entire last three weeks have been accepting our roles as Mommy and Daddy. My meaning of love has taken on an entirely new meaning and I cannot even begin to explain the amount of it that I have for this little girl. She has changed our life in so many ways and ever single moment has been unbelieveable. I still have to pinch myself on a daily basis when I think of the life we have been blessed with.

Best Week Ever

We think she's Perfect :)

Rooting for the Cowboys!

She was shocked to come out of the womb and find out the Cowboys were not in the Super Bowl this year...since she is already a super fan, she was rooting for them still!

She is so alert and likes to stare at us for hours!

Heading home to meet Beau and Daisy!

Daddy's in love

I LOVE being a Mommy!! This week has been the most amazing week ever for Matt and I and we have enjoyed very single minute of it. Isabella is such a mellow baby and we are so thankful! It definitely took us a couple of days to get adjusted, but my Mom was so sweet to stay with us to help out and we had friends and family stopping by and offering to do anything that we needed!

We went to our first pediatrician appointment with Dr. Misch and she did so great. She didn't like being weighed since that entails getting undressed...which she hates!! We have maybe heard her cry twice since we've been home for any other reason but getting naked :) She is such a snuggler and hates it!

She has gained 13 oz already and has grown 2.25 inches. But more importantly she is so healthy and received an A+ from the doctor. It's amazing to look at her since my due date was yesterday and think about how much of her personality we already have gotten to know in the 12 days we've had her. Speaking of due dates...the winner of our Baby Pool is Auntie Beth Carter!!! Not too much gloating Auntie Beth, Auntie Jenn was right on your tail in 2nd place by just a few points :)

She is already smiling at us and is sleeping wonderfully.....really she is! We keep thinking it's too good to be true that she is only 12 days old and she goes to bed at 11:00pm...wakes up at 2:30am and 6:30am for an hour each and then sleeps in until 10:00am or so. I'm getting a solid 6-7 hours a night even with breastfeeding. Yes!!

She is such a blessing. We just want to eat her up every day and she is growing so quickly....she has definitely stolen both of our hearts and she has us wrapped around her little finger :)

Our Little Girl Has Arrived!!

Isabella Hope Channel
Proud Mommy and Daddy!!

Just checked in and starting the "adventure"!!

Our support group and fan club ...my Mom and Matt's Mom!!

Laughing during labor??!!

Yep...thanks to our very funny Dr. Spoon and a little epidural :)

(If you look at the monitor behind Matt's head you can see the spike on the graph that I'm having a VERY hard contraction...I HEART epidurals! hahaha)

Daddy cutting Isabella's umbilical cord

(BTW-Our cord blood collection was a success)

My heart melting

Love at first sight :)

Bella hated the nurse and was not afraid to let us all know it when they were cleaning her up!

Wow...what an amazing flood of emotions I was having when Matt handed her to me

We're in love with our little Bella..she can never have too many kisses as far as I'm concerned :)

The last couple of days have been such an unexplainable joy of a whirlwind that I apologize to all of you for taking so long to update our blog with the beautiful details of the birth of our little girl Isabella Hope Channel.

So, here's what happened...

As you all read on my last update we received the news that we were being induced on Wednesday and there were so many things we had left to do that in true Type A form I woke up Tuesday morning on a mission..."To Do" lists in hand...all three...a realization that it was my last day at work and I needed to tie up all loose ends there...and then get home, clean and finish the rest of the stuff I had left to do in the nursery. Oh yeah...and even get my last night of uninterrupted sleep!!

I headed to work feeling as if it was my last day before Summer vacation with plans to be out of there by noon to run errands. I did accomplish my last day of work, gave hugs to my coworkers, and even ran some errands and wolfed down some lunch. As I jetted home I was feeling great...so excited about the next day I could just burst!

I pulled the Hummer into the driveway and gathered all of my odds and ends from the front seat and hoisted my round self out of the front seat. As I did so....my lower abdomen let out the strangest "glug glug gla glug" sound. I stopped and thought, 'What the heck was that?..maybe baby didn't like the BBQ sauce I just had" I proceeded out of the car, walked about ten steps into my garage and "Whoooosh" The floodgates opened and my water broke!! I looked down and wondered if I just peed my pants and then realized my pants were soaked to my knees! I stood there in the middle of my garage, hands full, and wondered what in the world I was supposed to do now!!! Do I walk? Do I sit down? Where's my cell? Oh God where is Matt?!!! Then panic set in...fast!!

I made it inside the house...almost setting off the alarm because I couldn't remember my code and fished my cell phone out to call the hub. Matt was sooooo cute when I called him. He became "Wonder Matt" in two seconds...calming me down and refusing to get off of the phone with me until he was home. He just kept telling me I need to hear you until I get there. He was so worried and was home within minutes....I don't even WANT to know how fast he drove home. Thankfully we had the bags packed and all I had to do was change and get my toothbrush....and then we were headed out the door! It's all a little bit surreal, the entire drive to the hospital, and even walking into the labor & delivery floor to announce..."We're Here To Have A Baby!!!!!" Matt was amazing during the entire process and I am so thankful to have a husband who was right there with me from day one....and even when those contractions got going!!

My water broke at 12:25 pm. We checked in at 2:00. And by 3:00pm I was hooked up to the monitors and in our own delivery room. My Mom and Matt's Mom arrived around 3:00pm and they informed me that they would be starting my Potocin to get contractions started around 4:30pm. The minute a drop of Potocin went into the IV, my contractions began..it was instant!! And it was unexpected!! Holy moly..so that's what contractions feel like??!! Yikes!! I started at a 3 dilation when I checked in and progressed very quickly. The nursing staff was a bit amazed and even became a bit frantic when they checked me and I was almost a 6 and I hadn't had an epidural yet. And it just so happened that my anesthesiologist was stuck in a crash c-section!! So, they called in a anesthesiologist from home, Dr. Robison, and he rushed to the hospital to administer my epidural around 7:00pm.

I was a happy camper at that point! Prior to my epidural, my mother-in-law said that she thought Linda Blair from the Exorcist was in the room :) I had an amazing nurse who got me through the last bit of labor as well as coaching me in pushing the baby to rotate since she was facing up and they must be facing down to deliver. Matthew, my Mom and Matt's Mom were so amazing and were the best support I could have had during Isabella's birth. Matt stood next to me and constantly gave me the willpower to get through the entire process....or as he calls it, the adventure :)

When Dr. Spoon arrived Isabella was ready to deliver and at 11:08pm our little girl entered our lives. The moment was one that I could never explain, and when you see this tiny little girl on your chest for the first time, your heart melts forever. Matt and the nurses cleaned her up and weighed her, a full 7 lbs 9 oz and 19 inches long! When Matt handed her back to me, my emotions were overwhelming. I could not stop crying tears of happiness and joy.

She was and is perfect and each day that we spend with her she shows us little bits of her personality and we fall in love with her over and over. She's such a good baby, doesn't cry and is sleeping pretty well. We'll eventually get on a schedule and figure all of that out, but for now all Matt and I want to do is stare at her. If we dim the lights she stares back at us as if she is trying to figure us out. But she does know our voices and even smiles at Matt when they have "Daddy-Bella" time at night.

We couldn't thank you all enough for all of the sweet words of encouragement and gifts you all spoiled us with throughout the last week. We can't wait for you to all meet her, she is so precious and we know you'll fall in love with her the minute you see her sweet face.

Love to you all...

XOXO Sunnie & Matt