Christmas with my family and Elanor!

Andrea Stuart took some family pictures for us and she did a great job! The only problem was that Elanor was wide awake for about three hours but fell asleep as soon as we started taking pictures. She still looked cute though.

All the Scott children: Ian, Jessica, Erik, and me

The whole family

Christmas 2010 in Virginia:

Elanor loves looking at the Christmas tree

This is her still looking at the tree

On Christmas Eve Day we took a nice walk in the snow:

Christmas Eve:

Our tree

Mom making Eggnog Custard Cups for dessert

Christmas Eve dinner

Christmas Day:

Erik Christmas morning

My dad with Elanor

Elanor in her new tie-dyed onesies Ian made her

The gingerbread trifle I made for Christmas dinner

Baby blessing:

Today, we did Elanor's baby blessing because my family is here and they are leaving this week. Church ended up being canceled, so we did it at home. Since it is Christmas weekend, a lot of people that we wanted to be there were out of town but family was here and that is more important. Tyler gave her a lovely blessing and she looked so pretty as well!

Here we are! I will try to get a better picture of Elanor close up so you can see the dress better. She looked so beautiful.

We had a wonderful Christmas and it was so fun to have Elanor here for Christmas. I am so glad that my family was able to come as well and they have helped us out so much. Thank you! I hope everyone had a great Christmas as well and have a happy New Year!

More of Elanor!

Here are a few days worth of pictures:

With Gran

Elanor had her first photo shoot (with Jessica) and she did not seem to like it:

Jessica's favorite

Today's pictures:

All bundled up to go outside
Lounging on the couch at Jessica and Ricky's house

Elanor is so much fun! She makes the funniest faces, is so cute and we love her. Sorry this is not longer but I have to go...

Introducing Elanor Susan Laurent...

She was born on Friday, December 10th at 4:16 pm and weighed 7lbs. 1oz. and was 20 3/4 in. long.

The story:

I woke up having contractions early Thursday morning and then had them inconsistently all day. I have my Contemporary Issues class from 7-9 Thursday evenings and I had to give a debate while having contractions, it probably was not my best public speaking experience. I started having more regular contractions around 9 and they were every 10 minutes or so. By around 11pm they were every 7 minutes and by around 2:30am they were every 5. Tyler started getting really nervous when my contractions started getting regular and cleaned the whole house (as it had been disassembled because Treemont has been remodeling). I started packing for the hospital and getting everything reading. We left for the hospital around 3am and it was a 45 min. drive to Augusta Hospital. When we got there, I was only dilated to a 3. It ended up being a pretty long night. I had a great midwife and she really made labor easier. I really did not think that labor was that bad until the end. Waiting and not getting sleep were the worst parts, but the contractions with the breaks in between were not terrible. However, the final contractions and pushing the baby out were pretty painful, but I am really glad I did it naturally. I feel like I accomplished something worthwhile and of course Elanor was completely worth it.

Here she is about an hour after birth:

She was able to spend the first hour or however long I wanted with me. They gave her to me as soon as she came out! She was so beautiful!

Here she is holding Tyler's hand.

I was so exhausted after after labor and I stayed awake until she went to get tested and then I fell asleep. So, Tyler got to dress and bundle her all up.

The next day, I felt almost back to myself.

She is already a thinker.

Elanor and Tyler

We left the hospital as soon as we could on Sunday and here we are getting ready to leave.

Elanor has been a really pretty easy baby so far. She sleeps at night really well and has not really had any problems nursing either. My mom and Erik came on Saturday and it has been so nice having them here. My mom has helped out a lot. We are really excited for my dad and Ian to come on the 20th as well.

Here she is getting her first bath at home.

She is so cute!

Elanor and me

By the Christmas tree

Tyler thought she looked hilarious here

Tyler made Elanor a cradle. He did such a beautiful job and I love it!

Elanor sleeping in her cradle

Today (Elanor's 6th day) it snowed! This is taken out of Jessica's window. We had to go over to her house all day today because Treemont is remodeling our apartment.

Here she is 6 days old---The camera really makes her look chubbier, but she is so small. The camera adds weight...

Cute yawn.

We are so excited about our little girl and we are loving being parents. She is a beautiful girl and we are so blessed to have her.

We will have more pictures up soon of Christmas and then Tyler's mom is coming after Christmas and we will take more pictures then too!

Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

Finally!

I am really sorry that it has been such a long time! I have been so busy. I know this is always my excuse, but trying to graduate, being pregnant, senior project, Thanksgiving and so much homework to do has made me a very busy person. So, I have a lot of pictures to share!

My senior project show of Twelfth Night went really well. We had a really large audience and so many professors told me how surprised they were by how good it was. Professor Stoddard told me it was the best understood [by the audience] Shakespeare play that had been done at SVU. I consider that quite an accomplishment, as that was one of my goals.

Here are some pictures taken by Mariel Kunz during the show:

Kyle Nielsen as Feste with Olivia played by my own sister, Jessica Messman.

Viola played by Mikaela ByrdMaria (Jessie Jolley) and Sir Toby Belch (Michael Taylor)

Sir Andrew (Chanson Hardy), Feste (Kyle), and Sir Toby (Michael)

Orsino (Bruce Fuentes) and Viola (Mikaela)Malvolio played by Nathan TaylorViola and OliviaMalvolio and Olivia

End of the show with me on stage--cause they wanted me to go up...

I am so glad my show is over, but also had a lot of fun doing it and am so thankful for the actors that did such a wonderful job.


Tyler and I went on the Historic Virginia trip over Thanksgiving with the school, because we needed to use our travel vouchers and I have always wanted to go to Williamsburg.
Here are some pictures from the trip:

Berkeley Plantation (Wednesday-24th):

By the James River on the Berkeley Plantation---so much happened on this one plantation! Revolutionary War, President lived here, signer of the Declaration of Independence, used by the North as a camp during the Civil war and so much more!

Here I am at 37 weeks!

By the River

On the plantation grounds

The Main house on the plantation

Williamsburg (Thursday-Thanksgiving!):

Governor's Palace in Williamsburg

Tyler walking the historic streets

Jamestown (Friday-26th):

Indian VillageMe inside an Indian house

Tyler inside James Fort

Recreated ships of the original three that landed in VirginiaTyler sitting in one of the bunks on the ship

We loved the recreated Jamestown Settlement. It was really well done and they had people there doing things like cooking, butchering pigs, running a ship and Indians tanning hides. I really liked watching the Jamestown ladies cooking over a fire--I like cooking and they had to put in a lot of work to make a pie or whatever they were making.

Williamsburg (Saturday-27th):

We were back in Williamsburg on Saturday and saw so many neat buildings!Tyler and I trying to get a picture of ourselves.

We really enjoyed Williamsburg and going to such a historic place. We learned about Colonial jails, courthouses, coffee houses, gardens, politics and so much more. It was a wonderful trip and we feel so lucky that we were able to go.

On our way home we got a Christmas tree with Jessica and Ricky at a Christmas tree farm in between Lexington and Staunton. It was a lot fun and a really cold, sunny day. We have our tree up and our house all decorated (pictures will be up soon, unless I have the baby before then). I am so excited for Christmas...especially since our baby will be here! I am feeling great, but am getting anxious to meet our baby. At the same time, I really need to finish all of my school stuff so I can graduate. Whatever the case, she should be here within the next 2 weeks or so!!!!