The best Christmas present ever:) Allie Joy Nichols is here!

She's here!! Allie Joy Nichols made her grand entrance this past wednesday, December 17 at 1:31 pm. She weighed in at 8lb 2oz and was 19" long. The delivery was so much easier than my first-we went in at 5 am on Wednesday and they started an IV of pitocin to get things going. Then my doctor came in around 9 am and broke my water and I got my epidural shortly after. Things progressed quickly from there-my nurse said I would start to feel some pressure when the baby was getting close and so around 12:30 I called her in and told her I was feeling a little pressure and she checked me and I was 9cm dialted! So anyway, she came back about 45 min later, checked me again and it was time! She called in my doctor, I pushed twice and that was it! Allie was here!!

Now anyone reading this who had their baby at Northside in Atlanta (which is where I had Marissa) knows that the experience there is wonderful, so this hospital had a lot to live up to! But let me tell you...I don't have one bad thing to say about our time there. Every single nurse was so great, the room was very nice and Russell even said his bed there was more comfortable than the one at Northside. :) However, with all that said, I was still ready to get home to Marissa, so my doctor let us go home Friday morning and so began my life with two babies under 2 years....

Well, I know all y'all really want are some pics, so here you go. Our newest addition, Allie Joy Nichols!

Our first picture together as a family of four:)

This picture is my absolute favorite:) Daddy and his girls...

Everyone keeps asking me if she looks like Marissa...I figured I would let you judge for yourselves...Allie on the top, Marissa on the bottom-what do you think??

And finally, I had to post this one of Marissa and her papa (my dad)-she kept wanting to mess with his computer, so we gave her our old laptop to play with and she loves it, look at that smile!!

Baby Shower, Baby's Room, and Baby Belly:)

This past weekend our friends, the Allen's and the Ortiz's, threw us a wonderful baby shower/football watching party:) The Alabama vs. Florida game was on, so we knew the guys weren't going to be so keen on the idea of having a shower during that, so we all watched the game and during halftime, opened the gifts for Allie! Russell's good friend from high school, Scott and his very sweet girlfriend Megan, drove in from Birmingham for the occasion and it was so great to see them! Unfortunately, my pregnancy brain got the best of me and I didn't think to take a picture with everyone-just a quick belly shot (the only one I have taken all pregnancy) and one of the 3 of us. I so wish I would have taken one of all the girls and the guys, but, like I said, I'm just not thinking straight these days....Anyway, thank you guys again for a wonderful day, we had a great time! And here are the pictures we did take....

38 weeks pregnant

Since this is kind of a post dedicated to Baby Allie, I figured it would be perfect to put pictures of her nursery here. I am so pleased with the way it turned out and I can't wait to have a little one in there:) I used Marissa's bedding (since she will get her big girl bedding soon) and my wonderful mother-in-law, Gail, helped me pick out the fabric for the curtains and then sewed them for me!! And they (Russell's parents) also brought the chair from their house which matched perfectly and I snagged a stool from my sweet mom and recovered it w/the leftover fabric from the curtains. I also made the picture frames above her crib with inspiration from this post by Shannon. So anyway, enjoy the pictures!!

Oh and since we are talking about Allie-let me give you a quick update...I went to the Doctor yesterday and I am a couple cm dilated but she still hasn't dropped, which is very apparent to me and the constant pain in my ribs...but the doctor said I could pretty much go into labor anytime. I went ahead and scheduled an induction for the 17th at 5 am just in case she isn't here by then. I was a little hesitant to do that, but Dr. Ballard said all that would be involved for me is starting an IV and some potossin (which I had with Marissa) so that made me feel better. Keep us in your prayers and we will keep you posted on her arrival!!

Playing dress-up

One of the things I am most excited about when the girls get older is playing dress up! My mom used to have these long skirts (I called them broom-stick skirts...) and I loved putting them on and twirling around and my grandma also had all of her square dancing outfits with the petticoats and I would try those on everytime we went to her house:) So, I can't wait for Marissa and Allie to want to dress-up...well, I got my first taste of dress-up this past weekend as Russell and I were tackling the mess in our sunroom-we were unpacking and getting rid of things, and there was stuff laying everywhere, including some of my old purses and some headbands-well, next thing I know, I hear Russell say very quietly-"JJ, go get the camera, look at Marissa" So I got the camera and here she is, very proud of the look she put together!

What I love the most about this is how she knew where the headband went and how to carry the purses...Russell asked me how she knew how to do that and I told him I guess it's just a girl thing:)

And here is another shot of her playing dress-up in her daddy's work boots:)

And lastly-here a couple of pictures of me playing dress-up with Marissa and her new boots and sweater-dresses. So cute:)