Merry Christmas

We are so excited for Ali's first Christmas and love how her pictures with Santa came out. It's funny that she won't even remember this Christmas (or maybe even the next few), yet we make such a big deal about it. It has been tons of fun picking out little toys, books and cute new outfits for "her" to open this year. And the fact that I find it necessary to wrap all of her presents even though I'm the one that bought them and will open them. Either way, I'm sure grateful for this little lady to join us for Christmas for the rest of our lives:)

I finally caught it...

Ali started rolling over about a week ago (right when she turned 3 months). It's so much fun to watch her roll back and forth all over the floor, but any time I tried to video tape her, she would not preform! So, even though she wasn't happy about it, I finally caught it...

She's growing...

Ali is 7 weeks old today! It has been so much fun learning all about her and watching her grow. She has been such a sweet little girl. She's been sleeping really good at night for the past few weeks now. I can't get enough of her! I just took this picture today.

Date Night

Mom stayed and helped for a week and we were so grateful! When Ali was exactly one week old mom told us to go out to dinner and she would babysit. It was lots of fun and we were at ease to know the baby was in good hands, so we were able to relax and enjoy ourselves. Thank you to all of my brothers and sisters for getting us the gift card to have our delicious dinner. We went out to a steakhouse called WW Peppers. It's one of the best places in Grand Junction. Thank you Grandma AJ!

Introducing...

We're please to announce the arrival of Ali Marie Milligan! I'm so excited that she's here with us...finally! I was very anxious at the end of my pregnancy and am just so happy that she's here now.

Here we are at the hospital, getting ready to check in. This is at 9:00am on Sunday and I had been having contractions since 7:00pm the night before.

Garet's parents are waiting for little Ali to get here

She made it after 3 hours of pushing! She was 8lbs even and 20 inches long

Garet and his mom meeting the new baby

The proud new daddy

Grandma AJ made it to town on Tuesday to meet little Ali

Finally home

Ali got the meet the rest of her family...Sammy and Bella

It's been great being a new mommy

She is a little bit jaundice, so she has to lay on this light. It's heartbreaking not to be able to hold her. She should be done soon though.

Due any day now!

I still don't have my camera back from the "shop" (we sent it in for repairs), but here are some pictures from Garet's sisters camera. The first one is of me at work...I'm 38 1/2 weeks.

In this one, I'm at home at almost 40 weeks! Garet took this picture of me today and I'll be 40 weeks in two days. I think all of my wishing that the baby would come is jinxing me! So, I'm just trying to be calm and wait for her to come in her own time:)

The Lost Photos

I was able to scrounge up some more shower pictures from some people that attended the shower. Here are just a few more pictures of our fun evening.

Lots of friends and family made it out for the occasion

The gifts

Brittany, Megan, me, Aunt Maggie and Erin...Thank you guys!

The adorable "Ali" M&M's that matched the baby's room colors

The cake was soooo yummy!!! It matched the plates and napkins:)

Showered some more!

So, talk about bad timing. This weekend Garet's Aunt Maggie threw a shower for me, we had family photos the next day, and Garet's Grandma's birthday. I am also due in 3 1/2 weeks. The "bad timing" part of it is that our camera broke. We sent our camera out to get fixed last week, so I'm hoping that we'll get it back before the baby is born. If not, I'll be pleading with someone to let me borrow theirs until then:) I didn't get pictures of the baby shower or his Grandma's birthday, but fortunately a friend e-mail me some pictures. I'll beg some more people to send pictures to me, so I may have to do a couple posts. The pictures that I'm adding are of me opening some presents at the baby shower. I had such a good time there. Garet's Aunt and cousins made it so beautiful and special for me. They even ordered special M&M's with the colors of the baby's room and baby's name on them! We had amazing food, cake, weather, and company! I can't say it enough that I am so blessed to be surrounded with great people. I have wonderful co-workers, family and friends! Thank you all for everything that you do for me!

Fun Weekend

I had a great weekend, spent with friends and family. I was able to attend my friend Katie's baby shower. She is due just 2 days before me, and it has been so fun to share this journey with her. It was so much fun to be an onlooker at her shower and really see her joy. Thanks Katie for going to classes, being excited and just talking to me about all of our experiences so far. I can't wait until our babies are here!

Holy Bellies!

Later that night, Garet and I had a few people over for a BBQ to help celebrate his birthday. We had such a great time making food, sitting by the fire pit (which burnt our grass), and just talking and reminiscing with our friends. It can't say that it gets much better! The only thing that I could have done with out were the mosquito's (I had bites on my stomach...through my shirt!).

Baby Shower and Family Visit

I need to start by saying that I have the most amazing friends and family that anyone could ever hope for! On July 18th, I had a baby shower that my friends from work threw for me. We had such a great time! To make the party even more special, mom, Cali, Colin, Kobe, Chloe, Chance, Aunt Peggy, Alby and Taylor surprised me and made the trip to join the festivities. It was so good to see everyone. The party was at my friend Cerina's house and she had lots of help with delicious food, fun games, and adorable decorations. I couldn't have asked for more.

Wow!! I was amazed at all the loot that people brought me! I am lucky to have such generous friends and family to get my little family started with all of the things we need.

Yummy! I loved the cookies that my friend Kendra made...look close, they're little feet!

I could show you all the fun pictures that I have opening things, but I don't know if you want to look at 50 similar pictures of me.

I had some of the best helpers when we opened the presents. Chance and Chloe both helped tear the wrapping paper and put the trash away...thanks guys!!

The girls hanging out

Look at my ADORABLE cake!!! It was so cute and it tasted good too!

To end the weekend with some more fun, Cali and the kids got to go with Garet, his parents and I to a little lake that is and hour and a half away from our house. My father in law thought it would be fun to get an inner-tube and go boating...so that's what we did! We all had a great time getting pulled in the tube and just as much fun watching the kids get pulled around.

Colin and Kobe had a blast

Chloe, Garet and Chancey

We also had fun just swimming around. Thanks for a great weekend everyone!!

Baby girl is on her way!

After weeks to months of procrastination...the baby's room is almost done!!!! Garet and I couldn't agree on bedding for the baby, therefore NONE was picked out:) He didn't want too much pink (even though I tried explaining that she is a GIRL and I'm sure that some point in her life, she may like pink!), and I didn't like the too neutral look that he preferred. So, I was looking online and found this very simple, violet and green bedding. I didn't ask for any one's opinion, I just bought it! Then came buying the paint, which was an easy choice (purple and green), it just took a little while to go buy it. We had already picked out the furniture months ago, so it was waiting in the garage to be assembled. Garet and his mom painted for two days and I loved the way it turned out. I wanted an accent wall with stripes, but then settled for 3 vertical and 3 horizontal striped. That was fine by me since I wasn't the one painting. Here are a few pictures of the paint progression and then the room with the furniture and bedding in it. I still need to add my few loving touches to the wall (pictures), but this is pretty close to the final product. Please enjoy...:)