Withdrawal Post

This post is for Michael who is in Montgomery working and suffering from Riley withdrawal! Presently Riley is propped up on my shoulder failing to burp...so I am a one handed typer and I think I will forget more words and move straight on to pictures.

The many faces of Riley.

Hi, obsessive Aunt Elizabeth is back again. : )

Here are some more pictures from Riley's first week.

Feel free to write a comment on what you think Riley must be thinking in each pic!

More Pictures

Riley is already growing up! I guess babies do that... I am hoping these pictures will turn out to be a decent enough quality that you can see him well. These are another product of my scavenging...
Riley is already almost at his birth weight - a week ahead of schedule! He is a good eater - definitley an Irvin characteristic... although, I know he gets that from his father too!

-Elizabeth

I am a photo scavenger...

So, since technical difficulties have been preventing photos from reaching me from Allison and Angie and since I have a job and cannot get to Montgomery to capture every second of Riley's life up to this point I am scavenging photo's from others who are more geographically lucky. This one is from Shelley's blog (see the side bar - she has fabulous paintings you should check out on her blog!) So thanks for an update Shelley, feel free to email me any pics you got before the batter went dead!

In this picture Riley is 8 days old!

- Elizabeth

Baby Chappell is here...

Below is Baby Chappell - Holland and Reed's little one. Allison and Holland were pregnant together (see picture below!) and Holland gave birth to Chappell on last Monday. She is so very precious - and apparently Michael is already joking that if Riley and Chappell were to marry how Holland and Reed would have to pay for the wedding... Allison says that Chappell is the spitting image of Reed, so I will have to have her post a picture of Reed soon so we can all weigh in!

This is a picture of Holland and Allison at Anne's wedding in December.


Congratulations Holland and Reed!
-Elizabeth
(PS More Riley Pics to follow soon, i promise!)

Paparazzi!

Riley is officially a star in the Irvin and Godwin Families - we have each taken an obsessive amount of photos of the lil' one... so here are a few of the photos I have from the Irvin camera - I hope to steal some from the Godwin camera soon too!

Gramps aka Grandpa Irvin: (Not, what he wants to be called, but my nickname for him for now! )

Grandpa Godwin :

Grandma Godwin:

Grandma Irvin:

Aunt Mary:

Second Cousin David:

Great Grandfather Pockey and Betty:

And midly obsessed Aunt Elizabeth (or Aunt Izzy as Emily calls me! Love it!):

This thumbs up pic was asked for by Allison - i guess its me telling Allison and Michael that they make a good baby? ;)

This picture below was right when I walked in and called Riley "it" - well that did not go over well with Allison who said right back to me "HE"! To which I responded, well for the past 10 months he has been an "it" so you are going to have to give me more than 5 seconds to adjust! : )

But, let me tell you - HE is way more amazing that I ever thought "IT" could be! We are all in Love!

-Elizabeth

It's A Boy!

On Behalf of Michael and Allison I would like to introduce Riley Earl Godwin!  He was born December 6th around 7 AM in the morning. He weighs 7 lb., 6 oz and is 20 and 1/4 inches long.  Allison is doing great - just exhausted from "giving birth".  Michael is a proud Daddy - making sure that from the start Riley roots for the Tide.  Riley is taking it all in with his bright eyes- when he is awake!  But he is quite content sleeping and eating like a good newborn!  

Allison earns a big pregnancy gold star - she gave birth all natural!  No epidural.   The Dr. said that her platelets were too low, so she had to buck up and do it the old fashioned way!  She did it all without screaming and remained calm.  Really - Michael even vouched for her!  

But pain and all she is recovering very well and when i asked her if all that cheesy stuff mother's say about falling in love immediately, etc was true she said "Yes - all that cheesy stuff is so true."  

I would have to agree! 

-Elizabeth

Diaper Shower

So we had another most wonderful shower, and this one was football themed...perfect for Michael! And the pink and blue football shaped donuts were the highlight for this pregnant woman. It was a perfect night with all of our good fiends here in Montgomery. They were so sweet to put the shower together for us and I know we will get good use out of all of the diapers and wipes that we recieved. It was also dcided that they would send a support group to the hospital if Baby Godwin is a little girl...Michael will need it! It really was such a thoughtful evening and we could not ask for better friends!

Renaissance Shower

So being that Tracy and I are both so very pregnant a lovely group of girls that we work with got together and threw us a wonderful shower. It was a perfect time. We all got together at La Zona Rosa and ate dinner. Angela made our adorable Onsie invitations...mine in green and Tracey's in pink. She also decorated the tables and made these precious little favors. She is quite talented with paper...you should see her Christmas cards!

Anyway here are a couple of pictures from that evening. It was so much for and so incredibly generous of everyone to celebrate with us. They gave Baby Godwin his/her tummy time mat which made Michael quite excited as his little football player will need that mat to learn to sit up...to learn to crawl....to learn to stand....so he can eventually run with a football in his hands!

Please know that pregnant Carolyn ordered 1/2 a gallon of milk to drink in the Mexican restaurant...and she drained the whole thing!

Turkey Day: I made a pie...KATIE HAD A BABY!!

So for those of you who do not know my friend Katie here is some background. We went to BSC together, her husband, Brigg, and Michael were pledge brothers at SOuthern and they lived together during Michaels stint in T-town. Brigg and Katie got married 3 weeks before Michael and I did and found out they were pregnant two days after we did! Since neither of us were expecting to be expecting we have had lots of fun sharing all of the gory details of pregnancy back and forth. (Oddly...she is not the only friend of mine who got pregnant and is due at the same time, Holland and Reed are in the same boat, but they are still waiting on little Chappell to arrive so more on them when we get to meet Chappell)

Anyway Katie's original due date was December 11th, then the doctor decided it looked more like December 16th...but little Hails decided Turkey Day was actually going to be his birthday and he rearranged the plan on everyone! So last Wednesday night, one day earlier than I had predicted she would go into labor, her water broke, and then 14 hours later Hails came into the world. This timing was perfect giving Katies parents just enough time to fly to Atlanta and drive to Mobile from Denver, where they had been when they got the call. They made it at 10:20 am and Katie pushed from 11:00 am to 11:20 am.

So see these pictures of the proud Momma and Daddy! And please know that the face little Hails is making in his solo shot is a spitting image of his Momma though he looks very much like both of them!

Nesting...it is the real deal!

If y'all can't tell I am getting a bit crazy in my last minute nesting!! I am ecstatic that my house is in great order. Over Thanksgiving my Dad and Michael and poor Blair got sooo much done. The nursery was completed accept for a few sewing projects Momma has in mind. We now have a wooden gate across our driveway instead of chain length! Michael and Daddy were covered in mud from ripping old tired azaleas out of the front flower beds where they put in new boxwood's, flowers and cedar mulch. We also got new outdoor fixtures installed, up lighting in the shrubs and brick sidewalk pavers instead of the old pavers that were there. So nesting around the house is done and seems that I am determined to get my online journal caught up! Too bad I am not taking the same energy and applying it toward my exams for school.

Now while the guys were outside getting the yard in order...Momma and I were getting the Christmas decorations up. Sorry Singh I know it drives you crazy that I put my tree up so early and leave it until Epiphany...but I love it. Usually I am ready to go for this task, but this year pregnancy zapped my creativity and Momma had to take the lead. Aunt Mimi we really could have used your help! (And on a side note Elizabeth usually likes to leave all the decorating at Thanksgiving up to the rest of us...but Aunt Mimi you would be impressed to know that Elizabeth set the table this year and did the centerpieces and it looked beautiful...now we know she can do it!) Back to the Christmas decorations...we are all decorated and the tree is up and I have been playing Christmas music since last Wednesday! I have also done all of my Christmas shopping accept for two gifts and all but three are wrapped! Anyway I wanted you all to know that the nesting thing happens and you may not even realize it until afterward when you are amazed at the bursts of energy that come and go. And now for some Christmas pictures...

Anne and Jimmy's Wedding (Week 36)

So here are the bride and groom themselves well into the reception. It was an absolutely perfect weekend. Anne looked GORGEOUS! She was perfectly classic and of course Jimmy was as handsome as could be. The rehearsal dinner was sooo much fun and Mr and Mrs Hlavecek were perfect hosts. My only regrets from the whole weekend are that I was as big as a house and that I could not bare to hit the dance floor dealing with severe cramping. Everyone else was having a fabulous time.

Ang hit the dance floor with the proud FOB, and Aunt Anne and Mrs Cook did not leave the dance floor all night. The weather was perfect as was the company and I think that Anne and Jimmy were thrilled.

I assure you this picture was taken this way at the brides insistance and not my own! It was one of many very pregnant looking pictures taken that day.

And here below we have a picture of Michael and I. I will say I have been very lucky not to have too much swelling, but it really kicked up a notch the weekend of Annes wedding which was unfortunate. You can see my plump face below.

It was excellent timing that I am posting about the wedding today, as Anne just emailed me a link to her photographers blog. The pictures are beautiful anf you can see how amazing the happy couple looked. www.ariellelanghorne.com/blog/

Last two Labor and Delivery Classes

Just in case anyone wondered...we passed Labor and Delivery Classes! Our final test was to change a diaper, and since I have done it before I let Michael change his very first diaper, and I caught it on camera! Below you can see pictures from class the week before where Michael got to where the empathy belly. He took a deep breath in and as soon as he exhaled Mary Jane wrapped him up tight...so as just to give him a bit of the pressure we feel when we try to breath. But don't think that he became all empathetic after wearing the 35 lb suit...no not my husband he said it wasn't that bad! But in his defense he didn't have to wear it 24 hours a day and deal with the wear and tear it puts you through...not to mention that 35 lbs to me is not the same as 35 lbs to him.