Frost Family Faces

My youngest brother Chad is on a mission. In order to more fully focus on the work, he left all his most favorite things at home, one major favorite thing is his rugby ball he named Gilbert. He left it in the safe keeping of my two oldest nephews who are safe guarding it at their house. It currently resides under Gavin's bed. When he wrote home a couple weeks ago, he said he had bought a replacement for Gilbert. While not as well loved as Gilbert, it serves its purpose for P-days, and he specifically says that it is ONLY in use on P-days. He named this one too...but I forget the name.
So...I thought it would be cute to let Ariana meet Gilbert, and have some pictures taken together. It will also give Chad an idea of how big she is.
Enjoy...


Giving Chad a little wave...


Ella had to get in on the action...


Practicing her "hold"...

And then some random pictures. This is the first time my Grandma Gough got to see Ariana.



A thumbs up for loving being a big sister! (Ethan actually took this picture. Pretty good!)

Ariana is two weeks old! She is still in the process of eating...sleeping...and pooping, with occasional wake periods in between, but we sure love her! Here are some fun pictures of her first two weeks of life...


This was just after delivery, right before they took me up to the recovery floor.

Ella checking out her new little sister. Sometimes I wish I could still keep Ariana behind glass...


And Ethan checking out his new baby sister. He wanted to hold her so bad!

Time to come home. She fits into her car seat better than the first two.

Ella taking care of baby.

Grandma Gough! She's been an amazing help!

My Grandma Gough sent me these flowers! I love you Grandma!



Grandma and Grandpa Frost came down for a couple of days to see Ariana.

Grandpa and Ethan.

Snuggling siblings!

Right as Grandma and Grandpa were leaving, I went to change her diaper and her umbilical cord had fallen of. One week! So, I gave her a bath.



She liked it until the water started to cool off...


and now she's happy. She's forgiven me by now I think...

I love this sweet baby! I especially love the socks on her hands. She such a wonderful baby!

It always amazes me that every birth story is different, even within the same family, they are always different. Arianna's is just that...

at 12:03 AM, on my due date, January 16th, I was lying in bed trying to go to sleep when I felt two quick "thunks" in my pelvic area. I didn't think anything of it, until a few minutes later when I adjusted a bit, and felt wet! I gasped and told Charles my water had broken! Chuckling, he stood up and started to get dressed while I made my way to the bathroom. No contractions yet, just a little bit of water, so I put on a pad and went and sat down on the bed to call my brother to come on over. My mom happened to be out of town. As I stood up again to start gathering things, and finish getting dressed, I GUSHED!!! I grabbed the nearest thing I could and threw it on the floor (which was my belly band) under me while Charles, (while laughing) went to grab me a towel. I once again changed, and then got dressed. I gathered some clothes for the kids and set them out, then my brother got there. I kissed my kids good-bye (they were sound asleep), Charles gave me a blessing (much needed, I was rather frantic!) that calmed me down and we were off to the hospital. On the way there, contractions started, but never regular. They were always 4-7 min. apart and would last 30 sec.-1 min. But, because my water had broken, and was pooling they admitted me at a 3 +. At about 3:00, I got my epidural (wahoo! Love those things) and Charles and I tried to get some sleep, knowing we wouldn't be getting much in the near future). I couldn't sleep, but dozed and read a book on and off. The nurse came in and started me on some petossin to get my contractions regular. At about 5:10 - ish AM, the nurse came in to check me, and because I started feeling contractions. She pushed the button to get some more meds flowing, then checked me. I was at a 6+. I tried dozing off again, and then the contractions hit me so hard! I pushed the medicine button, but I knew it would take about 10 min. to get the meds to work, and I woke up Charles with my breathing and panting as I tried to control the pain. On the monitor that watches the contractions, I saw the line go up, but never go back down! It was continual pain. OH IT HURT!! Charles had to call the nurse, and she came in and checked me. I was at a 10 and she could see the head!! I had dilated from a 6 to a 10 in 15 min. They called my doctor and about 10 min. later, he arrived. By that time, the pain meds had started working again and I could relax again....ahhhhh. As soon as Dr. Astle got there, He sat down, got ready to catch and said, ok, with the next contraction, push. We waited, and it never came. The contractions had stopped! He told me to push anyway. So, with two good hard pushes, out popped my baby girl! Dr. Astle said, there she is! As she did kind of a somersault, I had to look to make sure he wasn't teasing me, but sure enough, it was a girl!. Arianna Noelle weighed in at 8 lbs, 12 oz and 20 1/2 inches long. She was given and Apgar of 10! She had beautiful color and was perfect from the first minute. I decided on the middle name of Noelle because she was such a surprise and waiting for her was like waiting for Christmas to come all over again.

I was not expecting a girl. For a "surprise" baby, she fulfilled her roll to the fullest! Surprise! it's a girl! (I really thought it would be a boy)

Arianna Noelle Frost arrived at 5:57 am on Jan 16, 2011 (my due date by the way) and wieghed in at 8 lbs, 12 oz, and 20 1/2 inches long. She is absolutely beautiful and has been the sweetest little girl. The birth story will come later, it was quite interesting and full of lots of surprises!

Enjoy the pictures for now of our little Arianna. (and there will be a lot more of those to come too)



Ethan couldn't wait to hold her! He's such a good big brother

Ella has been very solicitous! She can't leave the baby alone, but is always very soft and gentle in the process.

I went into the kids room the other day to find Ella under the play table, and Ethan handing her tools. They were "fixing" the table. It was just too cute to not get a picture of.


You can see the tools scattered next to Ella

Ethan kept handing Ella tools as Ella requested them...

an up close shot at my Little Miss Fix-it.

We took it very slow and easy New Year's Day. We actually didn't do much that day. The kids slept in, then Charles took the kids to the store later, and I took down the rest of the Christmas decorations. We basically just chilled. It was really nice and relaxing.

Ethan slept in pretty late. He's so cute when he sleeps.

I love this picture. Ella is such a perky morning person and was the first one awake. I love her hair, it's sticking up in all directions.


Random picture...
And this is a 37 week picture. We took it while we were at Charles' parent's house. Gotta love the pajama pants. They match so well with the shirt.

New Year's Eve was spent as we always do, at my mom's house. It's always a very relaxing evening. The kids play with their cousins, the adults play games and watch movies and we eat...and eat...and EAT!! So much yummy food left over from the holidays. We always have such a fun time.

Enjoy the pictures, they tell all...

This isn't after midnight like you might think...this is actually about 5:00 in the evening. It may be a long night for him. Doesn't he just look so comfortable? Love ya bro.!


Ahhhh...kids and water, it doesn't' get any better than this. These three kids (Ella, Max and Mya) were all sticking their hands in the water, then sucking the water off their fingers, then dipping them back in. Hmmm...I think some germs got shared.

One of the favorite things to do on New Year's Eve... someone brings over a gaming system and they sit and play. Two years ago, it was a Wii, this year, Nintendo 64.

Ella walked right over to Travis, and plopped down right on his lap and snuggled right in. So cute! She loves her Uncle Travis

The kids made a train. So cute!

After playing "James Bond" on the Nintendo 64, the boys had to have their own "real" game...so they ran up and down the hall shooting dart guns at each other.

Getting the pans ready to bang! Ella is practicing on her's...

and Ethan is practicing too.

Ok, this is just a funny picture...here's the story. I was taking pictures of the kids, turned around to do something and got the camera knocked out of my hands, right onto the tile floor. Now, in May, the same thing had happened, but if fell right on the opened lens and bent/snapped it off, making it completely unusable. Luckily, we had a warranty that completely replaced the camera for free (whew!) but I was out of a camera for a month or so. So when the camera dropped again, I started to panic. Travis picked it up, said, "uh-oh, it's blurry" turned the camera off, then on again, and snapped this picture of me. The camera was fine, but I think the picture is a classic...yeah for me panicking!



At midnight, we all go outside and bang pots and turn the panic buttons on our cars on and make a good loud noise. Ella is screaming for Daddy to pick her up because it's COLD on her little feet!



Ethan just stood there, then turned around and went back inside and refused to come back out. I don't think he liked the noise.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!