The year in review...

I'm sitting watching tv... the ball will be dropping in 40 minutes! I thought I'd give everyone a recap of this year. It's been a great year!

January-
I turned 23 and had my first doctor's appointment. We got to see the little bean and everything started to become real!

February-
Happy Valentine's Day! My last day of work at Walgreens... yay! Went back to American Eagle part time

March-
I started this blog. We had the BIG ultrasound and found out we were having a girl! I started working on our great nursery and we got a fence in our backyard for our puppies :)

April-
I was nesting bad! Cleaned out the garage and completely rearranged so my big belly would fit in the car. Did my glucose test (yuck!). Started my birthing classes. Finished painting the nursery.

May-
Went to Gatlinburg on our babymoon. Finally finished our wedding scrapbook. Traveled down to Florida for my family reunion. It was my first Mother's Day... kinda, I think 2009 will be even better ;)

June-
I had my baby shower. Finished decorating the nursery. It's getting close to d-day! We aquired a new kitten, Butters!

July-
Alexis is here! July 24th 7:05pm 21" 8lbs 7oz. We love her so much! Unfortunately she had to go back to the hospital for jaundice, but she was home in time for August and Andrew's birthday. Andrew took 2 weeks off work, it was great to have him home.

August-
Alexis is one month old. Andrew goes back to work. The animals are adjusting well I think.

September-
Andrew went to play airsoft with some of his friends and I had a girl's weekend with Alexis and my best friend Sarah. It was Alexis's first roadtrip. Alexis started rolling over, holding her head up and smiling! She changes so quickly.

October-
Lots of fall fun and Halloween activities. Alexis is a princess for Halloween. We found a great church. We saw Wicked, leaving Alexis with her grandparents for the first time.

November-
Alexis voted in the election (or at least she helped mommy), we went to Mississippi to visit Andrew's family. Alexis and I went down to FL. for my family's Thanksgiving. Alexis started laughing a lot! Alexis also got RSV and we had to put her on a nebulizer :(

December-
Alexis is 5 months old and had her first Christmas! She had a great time and too many presents. We started Alexis on solids and she loves apple sauce and bananas!
Tonight Alexis is staying awake to ring in the new year with us! Only 15 more minutes :)

Merry Christmas!

and happy 5 months to Alexis! I can't believe Alexis is 5 months old already! CRAZY!!! Tonight we're celebrating Christmas with Andrew's side of the family. We're going out to eat with them to Ted's Montana Grill (yum!) and then going back to their house to open presents.
Tomorrow morning we're just doing our little family. I'm excited about that... I think it's nice now that we're a family to stay at home on Christmas morning.
Unfortunately, Andrew has to work tomorrow night, but he at least gets to be here for Alexis's first Christmas morning :)

Then on Saturday we're celebrating with my side of the family. My sister and her little girls are coming up and staying with my parents for almost a week. I'm going down there Saturday morning and then Andrew is meeting me there when he gets off work.

Alexis is a lucky girl... she gets 3 Christmases! We'll take lots of pictures and I'll probably post them on facebook sometime soon :)

prayer request

A friend of mine that I know through mymommytime.com posted this blog and asked her blog readers to pray... http://kayleighannefreeman.blogspot.com/ I thought the least I could do was to do the same.
This family needs your prayers. I can't imagine what they are going through right now. Please keep Kayleigh and her parents in your prayers.

quick update

I realized I haven't updated in a while, besides posting videos. Alexis had her 4 month check up right before Thanksgiving. She gots shots and got measured. She was 13 lbs 5 oz and 26 3/4". She's average weight and super, super long! Andrew of course is very proud that she's going to be tall like daddy (and mommy, but he doesn't include that when he says it).

After her check up we were able to start her on solid foods. The first cereal feeding is on youtube... I posted the video a while ago. She's liking cereal a lot more now. I've also started giving her applesauce mixed in with her cereal now. She LOVES that! she eats the whole bowl and then wants more.
We tried giving her peas last night, but I think they had too much texture for her, so we're going to try a few more things that are smoother and then come back to peas.

I'm getting really excited about Christmas! It's Alexis's first christmas and I know she won't remember anything, but it's been fun starting traditions. We're taking her to see Santa on Friday before our anniversary date (2 years!) and we've got her stocking and presents all ready to go.
I haven't decided exactly when to read them to her, but we're also going to start the tradition of reading the Christmas story and The Night Before Christmas every year... maybe Christmas Eve, but maybe Christmas morning before we open gifts. We'll see!

As mentioned above, Andrew and I are going out Friday night for our anniversary. Andrew's mom is coming up to babysit and we're going to see a movie (Four Christmases) and then we're trying out a new japanese steakhouse/sushi bar in town that's suppose to be really nice for dinner. It'll be nice to have a date night without baby in tow!

On Saturday I'm going to get my Christmas present done... I still haven't found anyone to go with me, since Andrew will be babysitting. In case you haven't heard... I'm getting a tattoo in honor of Alexis. I'm getting this vine, with the larkspur flower on it. The Larkspur is Alexis's birth flower. I wanted something to symbol Alexis, but I also wanted to be able to add something else for future children. So with this I figure I can add more flowers for my unborn children :)

100 things

Saw this on someone else's blog, and Andrew and I both did it :)

you bold everything that you've done...

1. Started your own blog (Sara and Andrew)

2. Slept under the stars

3. Played in a band (Andrew)

4. Visited Hawaii (A)

5. Watched a meteor shower (A)

6. Given more than you can afford to charity.

7. Been to Disneyland

8. Climbed a mountain. (S and A)

9. Held a praying mantis (A)

10. Sang a solo (S)

12. Visited Paris (S and A)

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch

15. Adopted a child

16. Had food poisoning (s and a)

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown your own vegetables

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France (S)

20. Slept in an overnight train (A)

21. Had a pillow fight (S and A)

22. Hitchhiked

23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill

24. Built a snow fort

25. Held a lamb

26. Gone skinny dipping (S and A)

27. Run a marathon

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse (solar) (A)

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset (s and a)

31. Hit a home run

32. Been on a cruise (S… A will in January)

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

35. Seen an Amish community

36. Taught yourself a new language

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing (S and A)

40. Seen Michelangelo's David

41. Sung karaoke (S and A)

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight (s and a)

46. Been transported in an ambulance (s)

47. Had your portrait painted

48. Gone deep sea fishing (a)

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person (a)

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris (S and A)

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling (A)

52. Kissed in the rain (S and A)

53. Played in the mud (S and A)

55. Been in a movie

56. Visited the Great Wall of China

57. Started a business

58. Taken a martial arts class (A)

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen (A)

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies

62. Gone whale watching (A)

63. Got flowers for no reason (S)

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check (S and A)

68. Flown in a helicopter

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy (S and A)

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial (S and A)

l71. Eaten cavier. (S and A)

72. Pieced a quilt (S)

73. Stood in Times Square (S and A)

74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London (A)

77. Broken a bone

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person

80. Published a book

81. Visited the Vatican (A)

82. Bought a brand new car

83. Walked in Jerusalem

84. Had your picture in the newspaper (S and A)

85. Read the entire Bible (S and A)

86. Visited the White House (S and A)

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

88. Had chicken pox (S and A)

89. Saved someone's life

90. Sat on a jury

91. Met someone famous (S and A)- Sara- Hanson, Sara and Andrew- Mr. Belding J

92. Joined a book club

93. Lost a loved one (S and A)

94. Had a baby (S and A… S says A shouldn’t be included because S HAD the baby… but it doesn’t say gave birth)

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a lawsuit

98. Owned a cell phone (S and A)

99. Been stung by a bee (S and A)

100. Read an entire book in one day (A)

more videos

we got one of Alexis laughing a bunch-




and one of her trying cereal for the first time-

videos

This is the mask Alexis has to use to do her breathing treatments... last night she started licking it-








in this one you can kinda hear her laugh. We were playing a game called "drop my paci and help me put it back in"





in this one she sits up by herself! look at those tummy muscles go!

Alexis has RSV :(

Alexis has been sick since Thursday/Friday, and it got worse and worse over the weekend. I called our insurance's nurse line yesterday and they said to definitely bring her to the dr. today.

She's had a bad cough, runny nose and wheezing when she breathes... the wheezing is the problem. So Alexis went to the dr. today and tested positive for RSV... which I guess is just a virus, like a cold... but it causes more wheezing, and if it gets bad enough can cause pneumonia or bronchitis and if it gets that far it can result in hospitalization.
So, Alexis had to do a breathing treatment in the office, which she hated and I hated for her. She screamed and screamed. We got a prescription for more meds and a nebulizer for her to do the treatments at home every 4 hours. So far I've done it at home once, it wasn't nearly as bad in the comfort of our own home. She was being poked and prodded at the dr's and to do the RSV test they squirted this stuff in her nose and then swirled a q-tip up in her nose. Poor little baby.

We have to go back to the dr's on Wednesday to see if she's getting better.

I hope she gets better because we are planning on going out of town for thanksgiving on Wednesday. I'm being optimistic and packing our bags today and tomorrow. I'm also baking cookies for the thanksgiving meal tomorrow. I can't do all that in the 1 hour I'll have inbetween her dr's appointment Wed. and when we're suppose to leave, so I'm just going to cross my fingers and keep praying!

So that's what's going on with us today. Alexis isn't having her 4 month checkup tomorrow since they're seeing her on Wednesday. If she's feeling better, they'll give her the vaccine shots Wed., but if she's like she was today she'll have to get them the week after Thanksgiving.

4 month and christmas pics

I just put up a whole bunch of pictures on my facebook... you can look at the pictures without being a member of facebook-

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2033394&l=e099f&id=57700497

enjoy!

Trip to Mississippi

This past weekend we (Andrew, Alexis and I) all went to Mississippi to visit Andrew's family. Most of his aunts and uncles live there, as well as both sets of grandparents. Andrew's mom (Granny) drove us over there and Uncle Sean came too!

This picture is from the trip over there. Obviously we spent a lot of time in the car. She spent more than 1/2 the time sleeping and when she wasn't sleeping, she was either crying for a bottle (very, very little... she did so good!) or staring at the frog that is on her carseat. She loves that thing!

We stayed at great-granny's house Thursday, Friday and Saturday night. This picture was taken before we left Friday afternoon to visit the Gentry side of the family. It's 4 generations :) I know you can't see the writing on Alexis's onesie, but it's vegas style design and says "What Happens at Grandma's, Stays at Grandma's" it's so cute!

That day we went to see Andrew's grandfather Gentry at his nursing home. We were glad he was able to meet his great granddaughter. I didn't get a good picture while we were there, but Grandmother Gentry did take a group shot of everyone, so he should be able to have one to put up in his room. Later that day we went over to the Gentry's house and ate lunch with Grandmother Gentry and a couple Aunts, Uncles and cousins of Andrew's.
This picture is of Rowan and Alexis. Rowan is Andrew's cousin and I thought it was so funny that Alexis looks HUGE when Rowan is holding her! Little kids (maybe not boys, so far all the little kids that Alexis has met have been girls) just love babies. It's really cute, but of course they want to hold the baby. Fortunately Alexis is getting big enough so she's not quite as "breakable" as she used to be. I know Madison (my niece) will be excited about that since last time she saw Alexis she had to hold her while I was still holding her head up to make sure she had enough support.

Over the weekend Alexis started using her teething ring a little bit. She's chewing on her tongue, hands and shirt a lot lately, so I've been trying to get her to hold onto the teething ring so she can chew on that instead of her shirts (she likes to flash everyone so she can eat her shirt, hehe). She was also funny this weekend because she was always trying to watch tv! It's lots of movement, lights and colors so that's why she likes it. But from everything I've read it's really bad for baby's eyes to watch TV until they're like 2 or something. So I kept turning her away from the tv, and she would streeeeeetch to see it. So cute. You can also see her cute shirt better in this picture :)

In this picture she was having tummy time and I thought I could get a cute picture with her. I actually managed to get a really cute one, but I thought this one was funnier, because there she is... watching tv! But on the plus side she's getting great at lifting her head up and holding it steady, she's even propping herself up on her arms. Woohoo, go Alexis!
I've also got a picture of Superbaby... we've started doing this and Alexis loves it! Sometimes we can get a laugh out of her, but most of the time, she just flies around looking at everything. It's cute either way!

She's got her 4 month check up in a week and I'm not at all looking forward to it :( She has to get 4 more shots. I hate that. I am looking forward to seeing how much she's grown though. I'm also going to ask about starting solids, and that's something new and exciting. We'll see what she says. Most of the books and websites say between 4-6 months.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention Alexis's loot... Saturday we went shopping and Alexis got a bunch of loot :) She got a couple really cute bows and an adorable Christmas outfit. Uncle Sean bought her a baby's first christmas ornament and got her name put on it. I'm excited about taking her Christmas pictures soon. We'll definitely take some in the outfit Granny bought for her, it's adorable! She also got some toys that her second cousins (is that what they are?) aren't using any more. And Andrew's aunt bought her some books. I think "If You Give a Cat a Cupcake" is going to be read a lot!
Alright... one more picture so that everyone can see what I was talking about. Alexis is putting everything she can reach in her mouth. It's so cute, and she usually ends up looking like this-

Halloween

Alexis went trick or treating at the mall this year. I think she enjoyed herself. Everyone thought she was cute at least! She slept most of the time... so she was Sleeping Beauty.

I love her costume... such a pretty princess! Daddy is her prince for now ;)

On our way out, we saw my friend Melissa and her husband and daughter. So Alexis and Avery took a picture together. Unfortunately, Alexis was getting hungry, so she wasn't very happy.


Before we did Halloween, we actually went and voted. Andrew was working today, so it just made more sense to do it early. Alexis wore a patriotic outfit and got a sticker to say she voted ;)

On Thursday I'm going to the MOPS group at our new church. I'm excited about that, it's the first time I'm going. It's a group for women with young children. I'm excited to meet some other women with babies :)

We've got a busy couple of weekends coming up! Next weekend (not two days from now, the week after that). Andrew and I are going to Mississippi with his mom and youngest brother. His relatives haven't met Alexis yet, so that should be fun!

Then two weeks after that I'm going down to Florida with Alexis for Thanksgiving with my family. I'm a little nervous about the drive by myself, but so far Alexis has been doing really good during car rides, so I'm crossing my fingers.
Alexis is doing great. She's almost holding her head up by herself while sitting. She's really good at it, just not completely steady. I sat her in her Bumbo seat today and she liked it for a little while, but then holding her head up was getting to be too much work for her and she didn't like it any more!
She's rolling over great! I get out the camera after she does it and try to get her to do it again so I can video tape it, but no. She refuses to do it when the camera is rolling. Today I left her on her tummy in the crib, went and changed the laundry and came back and she was on her back. Then I got out the camera and waited another 5-10 minutes watching her and no luck! She's a sneaky little baby!!!

She's smiling and laughing ALL the time now, I LOVE it! Andrew took this picture of us on Sunday after church... she's such a happy baby, I love that I can just look at her and she gets all smiley. Definitely my favorite thing to do right now is to try to get her to laugh.

I think that's all for now!

new church

I'm throwing in a couple of recent pics of Alexis... enjoy!


I think we may have found a church :) It's REALLY close to us, and has a morning service and a night service... so Andrew can usually go to one or the other, depending on his work schedule.

They have a young couples sunday school class and a MOPS group (moms of preschoolers, but anyone pregnant-school age can go). This morning we went to the sunday school class, and it was ok. They had the backup's backup teaching... so it wasn't that great, but the people are really nice so we're definitely going back next week!

We were also invited to go trick or treating with some of the couples and their kids, so I think we might do that... if Andrew can get the night off. He's suppose to open that day, but one of the other managers is in the hospital and might not be back in time :(

I'll definitely post pictures after halloween because Alexis is SO cute in her princess costume! At the bottom of this blog there's a pic of her in the costume, but it's missing the hat. The hat just makes it ADORABLE!
I've got a lot of fun weekends coming up... this upcoming weekend I've got Halloween and then Sarah's baby shower (so excited about seeing you and your big baby belly!)

The weekend after that we're (Andrew and I) are going with his mom and his youngest brother to Mississippi to visit his extended family. None of them have met Alexis yet, so that should be fun!
Then Thanksgiving weekend I'm going down to see my family. I'm bringing Alexis, but it'll just be the two of us because Andrew has to work. I'll be staying with my sister, who is about 1/2 way to my final destination... so it's only a 4 hour drive each day. I'm staying with Amy through the end of the weekend... trying to make the drive worthwhile, instead of driving there and back in 2 days.

Anyway, a fun month coming up! I can't believe it's almost November! Where does the time go??

Alexis is sleeping now, I think she might be inching toward an earlier bed time. I guess I should get ready for bed myself!

Yummy hands

I finally put a video up on youtube... I've been trying to catch her rolling over, but she won't do it when I've got the camera out. I thought this was funny though, sucking on her hands...

2 month checkup

Just got back from Alexis's 2 month checkup... she did good. I did better than I thought I would, only a couple tears. She got 3 shots (2 on one side-pictured, and one on the other) and 1 oral (they should do ALL of them this way! She sucked that stuff down!). Her height and weight are all good... she's super tall, which Andrew is so proud of. Even though we're both tall he says over and over "she's tall like her daddy" haha, I think it's cute

Anyway, she's 24 3/4"(literally off the charts... above the 97th percentile) and 11lb 1 oz (which is average)

And so far she's been good... she fell asleep as soon as we started driving and now she's eating. The doc said she may be fussy, but a lot of babies just sleep it off, so that's what I'm hoping for!

Tomorrow she's staying with Andrew's parents while we go out to see Wicked. It's our first time leaving her with someone else, but I'm excited about our date, especially since it's to see Wicked :)

One month later...

It's been over a month since I last updated. I find it hard to have both hands free, so even though I spend lots of time at the computer, it's hard to type a long update when I'm one handed :)

Alexis, as you can see, has gotten so much bigger! This picture was taken last night. She was having tummy time and lifted her head up for a long time, I was proud. She's still working on being about to hold her head up by herself, so I was impressed to see her do this long enough for me to get the camera and then take a picture.

She has her 2 month checkup on Tuesday, so I'll try to update again after that. She's growing like crazy, so I'm excited to see how much she weighs and how long she is :) I'm not at all looking forward to all of her shots! Depending on what they combine into one shot, she could get as many as 5 shots :*( I'm sure mommy will cry more than Alexis.

update

Sorry it's been so long! We've been doing well... getting adjusted to life as a threesome. I don't have much time, so I'll just answer the questions that everyone asks :)

I'm feeling good. A little worn out on some days, but overall I'm loving being a mom and being a stay at home mom. I'm still working on getting anything done, but it's getting easier.

Alexis is doing great. She's sleeping really well. She sleeps in our bed with us, because when she does she'll sleep for 5-6 hours. It's great!

We've started using the cloth diapers, and I actually like them. It's more laundry, obviously... I wash them every other day. But I think they're nicer to Alexis's booty and I don't feel as wasteful when she pees WHILE I'm changing her :)

Her jaundice is gone, our last trip to the doctor went well and they said we didn't have to go back until our 2 month appointment, which is at the beginning of October.

Alexis is growing up SO fast! She's working on holding her head up herself... now she can do it for a few seconds before she makes a face plant onto the floor, couch, or my chest. She also squirms around ALL the time (when she's awake)... she wants to crawl so bad, she's working on it! :)

Oh, and the last thing... all the animals are adjusting to having a little one around. The dogs definitely get jealous that they have to share our attention, but they both enjoy licking Alexis's face if they can sneak a kiss or two while we're not paying attention. The older two cats ignore her for the most part... Butters (our new kitten) thinks she's a moving toy for him to play with. Any time she moves any of her limbs, he tries to play with them... which we have to keep an eye on because he still has his claws and could scratch her!

Just the two of us

Today is Andrew's first day back to work, he left about 15 minutes ago... so until he gets home tonight it's just me and Alexis. I'm definitely a little nervous about the adjustment. I want to be able to get some things done around the house and still spend a lot of time with Alexis. I'm also trying to not hold her *all* the time... I find that I feel like I have to hold her or else I'm not being a good mom. I feel bad if I put her in her swing or bouncer... but otherwise I don't know how I would get ANYTHING done!

today on my to do list- laundry, dishes, tidy house, keep sanity! haha

Alexis should be about ready for a nap, so when she goes to sleep, I'll attempt to let her sleep in her crib while I complete my to do list, and then the rest of the day I can work on the last thing! :)

we're home!

we got to go home from the hospital today! we're at home relaxing now, thanks for all the thoughts and prayers :)

maybe tomorrow...

well, we don't get to go home today. Alexis' biliruben numbers have gone way down (from 25 to 14) and are now at an acceptable amount. But when they did tests on her urine yesterday there were some indicators of a urinary tract infection, so the dr. wants to keep her here one more night and test her urine again in the morning. She said if Alexis developed a uti after she was sent home, so would run a really high fever and we'd have to bring her back to the emergency room, so rather than risk that we have to stay one more night.

Hopefully her urine is clean in the morning and they'll discharge us. Luckily Alexis really likes it under those lights, so she's not crying at all. She just wiggles around when she's awake, but sleeps most of the time. Andrew and I both agree that they need to sell these incubators for home use! She has only cried when being poked/prodded by the nurses. Normally at home she hates not being held, so we were worried she'd be crying the whole time and we wouldn't be able to hold her.

On a side note, we're very proud of her motor skills at a week old. In her wiggling around she keeps rolling from her back to her side. I told Alexis that I was impressed, but she needed to stay on her back! haha... but we keep putting her on her back and she keeps rolling to her side, apparently she prefers to sleep on her side :)

Alexis is in the hospital :(

We had our first doctor's appointment this morning, and obviously it didn't go very well. The dr. said she looked a little jaundiced, nothing too bad, but she still wanted to have blood work done. So we went over to the hospital to get the blood drawn and they told us they'd call us with the results.

We then went over to the mall to see my AE coworkers and to stop by Toys R Us to get some baby stuff we needed. We first stopped in the nursing center so I could feed Alexis, and by the time we were done there Andrew had received a voicemail from the dr's office saying to call them right back and have the answering service page them (it was their lunch hour). So of course this worried us and we called right back.

The dr. said her jaundice level was really high and she needed to be admitted to stay in the hospital overnight under a bili-lite. So now we're in the hospital, fortunately they set up the incubator in a room, so Andrew and I are able to stay with her.

I'm praying we're able to come home tomorrow, but from the answers the nurses keep giving us, it's not looking good. Hopefully we won't have to stay too long. It's terrible to not be able to hold her all day like I'm used to, but of course I just want her to get better.

Fortunately we can still hold her for a little while when she gets fed. Right now we're having to give her formula that's suppose to help her get better faster, but I'm pumping to keep my supply up, so I can keep breastfeeding when we get home.

Anyway, that's the update... keep little Alexis in your prayers.

First day by ourselves

So far today has gone pretty well. It's the first day of being by ourselves for a whole day. Alexis is still sleeping a lot, so that helps. She slept better last night, we got a good 3 hours of sleep toward the end of the night/early morning.
She also had her first bath at home, just a washcloth bath, but still a milestone :) Alexis isn't a big fan of being naked, wet and cold... but she was a trooper and now is nice and clean!

She likes to hang out with daddy while he plays video games, he sits in his video game chair and she lays on his chest... it's cute :)

Tomorrow we're scheduling our doctor's appointments. Alexis will see her pediatrician on Tuesday or Wednesday for a checkup and I'll see my doctor in 6 weeks to make sure everything healed ok.

Oh, and for everyone wondering about our animals... we boarded the dogs for the weekend, so we're picking them up tomorrow. Still keeping our fingers crossed about how Mayer's going to react. The cats are pretty indifferent to the new addition to the family. All of them have come and sniffed Alexis, but other than that haven't shown much interest. I will say though that the cats do NOT like being kicked out of the bedroom at night... lots of meows at the door last night, but they'll get over it. They all seem to think the pack and play, crib and changing pad are new beds for them, so they can't sleep in our room with us anymore.

I'll try to keep everyone posted, we're taking lots of pictures, so eventually I'll get some posted on a picture hosting site and post the link :)

Alexis is here!

She was born yesterday at 7:05pm. 8lbs 7 oz. and 21 inches :)

here's the whole, long story:
I woke up at 3:40 am on Thursday, July 24th to go to the bathroom. I got to the bathroom (fortunately) and had a gush of liquid run down my leg. I didn’t really feel the “gush” feeling though, it just came out. I was thinking it was my water breaking, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up!

So I went to the bathroom and it was then that I realized my water had blood in it. So even if it wasn’t my water breaking, I still needed to call my doctor. So I went to another room (didn’t want to wake Andrew) and called the doctor. I got the after hours operator and told her what happened. She paged the on call doctor, who called me back about 2 minutes later. She asked if I was having contractions, which I said I wasn’t sure. But I was pretty sure it was my water breaking because I could still feel it dribbling out (and that I had put a pad on). The dr. told me I needed to go to L&D and they would check me to see if it was my water that broke and if I was having contractions.

I went and woke up Andrew, who of course was a little out of it, since it was 3:50am. He went and took a shower while I got all the last minute stuff together for the hospital. At this point I was getting excited, but I still didn’t really want to get my hopes up too high! After we packed up the last minute stuff in the bags, Andrew got everything in the car while I got food and water full for our cats and dogs (the dogs we later had Andrew's mom take to a boarder, but the cats are roaming around at home). As soon as we were sure we had everything ready, we left for the hospital which is only about 5 minutes away. When we got there we went to the emergency room, and they had someone from L&D come get me. By that time my pad had pretty much soaked through, so the triage nurses could tell that it was my water. But they checked me anyway(it was about 5am at this point), and checked my dilation. I was 1cm and thick (2 days before at my dr’s appointment I was a fingertip). I was admitted and had all the paperwork signed, my IV (fluids) hooked up, and the monitors hooked up. By this time I was having contractions every 2-4 minutes, but they weren’t that bad... 4 ½ hours later I was still having contractions about every 2 minutes and was STILL only 1cm, so they started pitocin. By 11:20am I had gone to 2cm and got some stadol to help with the contractions, that were starting to get stronger. The stadol didn’t help that much with the contractions, but it helped me relax more in between… kinda made me a little drunk feeling.

By the time 3:20pm came around, the contractions were getting terrible and I was practically begging for an epidural! Being a ftm I can’t say for sure, but I think the pitocin was making the contractions just terrible… I could hardly stand it. And in 4 hours I had only progressed 1 cm, even on pitocin. So at 3:20 the guy came in to do my epi, which was great because it let me relax and let the pitocin do its job. However, it wasn’t what I expected because there was a “hotspot” that it didn’t work in, so there was a spot that I felt everything, and that still hurt really really bad.

But, like I said the epi helped the pitocin work… by 4:35 (a little over an hour later) I was already at 6cm. And by 6:15pm I just had a little lip left. I started pushing at 6:45pm and pushed for 50 minutes. Pushing was hard… I could feel when to push because I could still feel the contractions in the “hot spot”, but I didn’t feel that pressure that I’ve heard people talk about. About ½ way through pushing they gave me an oxygen mask to help me breath after pushing… it’s a lot of work! Haha

I had a little tear and a small episiotomy… I didn’t really want one, but by that point I didn’t care, I just wanted her out! When she was born, she had some fluid in her lungs, so that had to be suctioned out, but other than that she was great… scored a 7.9 on her apgars. I was glad she decided to come early though, she would’ve been a BIG baby is she went over her due date!

update

I went to the doctor today, and so far no progress. She said at my appointment next week we can set an induction date... so that's exciting! At the latest, Alexis should be here by the end of next week :)

I'm still hoping that she'll come on her own soon, but I'm not getting my hopes up too high. I'm just trying to keep myself entertained until my little girl finally makes her debut :)

it's been a while

It's been a while since I last posted, so I thought I'd write an update :)

Since I last posted, my due date has actually been moved up to July 29th. It really wasn't moved... turns out I had 3 different due dates in my file, and we decided that July 29th was the most accurate, so now I only have 11 more days until I'm due! Alexis could come any day now :) I doubt she'll come until some time in August, but I'm still keeping my fingers crossed.

We've got everything ready for her, everything's washed and sanitized, the carseat is installed... I still need to prewash the cloth diapers we just got in, but she'll probably wear disposables for the first month or so, so I still have lots of time for that.

Andrew is playing a big airsoft game this weekend, it's a 24 hour game that starts on Saturday morning and ends Sunday morning, so of course he's hoping Alexis waits until after this weekend to make her debut. He also has to work on Sunday night and then again at 5am on Monday, so he's hoping she waits until Tuesday after he's had a chance to rest.

I personally just want her here! :)

The nursery's done :)

I worked most of the day Monday and now the nursery is finished!


here's the crib complete with bedding and mobile-Her name above the crib... looks complete with mobile :) You can also see the beginnings of her doll collection in the crib... her uncle Sean got her a princess doll, so cute!
the changing table, with changing pad :) And my boppy pillow in the cubby hole
a close up of the crib, with her dolls in the corner... and my diaper bag, all packed and ready to go to the hospital
the rest of my bags... packed and ready to go (the white one got transferred to the diaper bag, but not as of the picture)

baby shower

I had my baby shower on Saturday :) It was lots of fun and we got TONS of stuff! We played a few fun games... a baby Price is Right and a matching game with crazy baby names and the insane celebrity parents who name their kids stupid things.

Here are a few pictures-

the table centerpiece :)


the cake- Welcome Princess :)
Me and Mrs. Gentry
opening gifts :) This onesie said "Don't you wish your mommy was hot like mine" haha
Me, Ro, Jenn and Scare :)

we got our chair today :)

Our recliner for the nursery came in last week, so while we were down celebrating Father's Day with Andrew's family in Kennesaw, we went by the store and picked it up. I love it, and so does Andrew... I told someone that I wouldn't be surprised if I came home one day and found it moved to his game room haha :)

This was our gift from the Gentry's, for Alexis. I think what I like most about it is that it can easily fit into any room of the house. After we no longer have a nursery to put it in, we can move it out to the living room, or the game room... or any other room. And it's SO comfy, much more so than any of the traditional nursery-type gliders we were thinking about before. And it still has the "glide" feature I was wanting from a glider... we added that to the chair when we ordered it, and with that came a "swivel" option, which is really nice, it swivels on a base, 360 degrees, so I can turn around while in the chair.

hospital tour

We went on the hospital tour today. Definitely makes it so real! We saw the delivery rooms, the postpartum rooms, and the nursery. It was really nice to see where I'll be staying prior to getting there.
I also preregistered, so I'm all set to go! Obviously I still have a ways to go, but as far as the hospital goes I'm set :)

I'm at 31 weeks and 5 days, so hopefully Alexis will bake for at least 5 more weeks.

My baby shower is next week, which I'm really excited about. We'll of course get lots of stuff for Alexis, but I'm also going to see my group of friends that I never see... especially not all of us all together! And my best friend that lives in Memphis is coming down, and I'll be spending the whole day with her (she's part of the group). So anyways, I'm really excited about all that and a room full of ladies celebrating my little Alexis and me getting to talk about her all day :)

Contacts! :)

I'm so excited... Andrew doesn't have eye insurance with Walgreens, so I procrastinated getting new contacts, and last week I ran out of new ones, and one of my old ones fell out in the middle of the night (that's what I get for all the fans I have running!) So, I've been wearing my glasses for the past week and I HATE them.

And then I realized that the contacts I usually wear are super expensive, but it was never an issue because my dad had good insurance, and the last time I got new ones was while I was still in college. The reason they're so expensive is because they're monthlies... you can wear them to bed and just toss them out at the end of the month.
So I was really worried I wouldn't be able to get those same kind, and I've been sleeping in them for 5 years, and I can't go back to the way things used to be! Taking them out every night, not being able to see at night... uck!

So, I went in to Walmart today for my eye exam (which is another thing I'm excited about... my vision hasn't gotten worse with pregnancy, I was worried that would be an issue), and I asked the doctor if there was a cheaper version of the monthlies, and there was! The ones I have now are about 1/2 the price of my old ones

So, obviously it was still expensive, but not as bad as we originally thought. And I'm so excited to not be wearing glasses!

working a lot

I'm working a lot this week... I was scheduled to work tomorrow and Wednesday nights, but then a guy called today and asked if I could work Friday and Saturday for him, so I am... I'm going to be SO tired. But, we could use the extra money, especially since my last day at AE is June 14th.

I figured I've been bored sitting around at home recently, so I might as well be working. It's just that the last time I worked I was SO tired, I barely made it through a 5 hour shift. Granted, I didn't get a break during that shift, besides when I grabbed a barstool to sit down and fold underwear haha

I'm excited about the next few weeks- this week we're learning infant CPR, and then next week we're taking the tour of the hospital. Next weekend is my friend Melissa's baby shower and then the weekend after that is my baby shower! I'm really excited about seeing all my friends, and of course getting presents :) After the shower I should be able to finish the nursery, which is very exciting... I can't wait to have it all done!

scrapbooking

I have a nice craft table set up in our game room, so I've finally been able to start scrapbooking again. I'm trying to get our wedding scrapbook finished before Alexis gets here so I'm not SO far behind. I ordered a whole bunch of wedding pictures from our professional photographer today, so while I'm waiting on Andrew to bring those home (I ordered them from Walgreens), I finished a good portion of our honeymoon pages... not a whole scrapbook, just a few pages at the end of our wedding scrapbook. So now I just need to do the prewedding pictures, the ceremony, the reception and leaving the reception. Obviously that's a good but to do in the next 10 weeks, but I'm hoping to get it all done :)

We had our 4th childbirth class on Thursday. The pediatrician that came to talk to us answered a lot of my questions, so I enjoyed it. A lot of the information we got at the end of the class was stuff I already knew, but I enjoyed meeting the pediatrician... and eating at Fuddruckers afterward haha. We're going to start meeting with pediatricians soon. I liked the one that came to talk to us a lot, but I want to meet a few others, just to compare.

This week we're learning infant CPR, and then next week is our last week... it's going by SO fast!

Doctor's appointment today

My doctor's appointment today went well... she said everything looked good, so I don't have to come back for another 3 weeks, then after that 2 weeks, and then every week after that.

I also asked her how far along I was measuring, and she said right on track... but then she said "you're 30 weeks and 30 cm"... but I'm 29 weeks, or at least I thought I was. So, I guess I might be farther along then I thought. But, if I'm 30 weeks now, my due date would be a week earlier, August 3... so I guess I should expect sometime inbetween the 3rd and the 10th, if Alexis pays attention to the due dates... most babies don't :)

Happy Memorial Day Weekend :)

This weekend was very, very tiring for me... I'm glad to be home, sitting in bed with my feet up!

Thursday we had our 3rd baby class, all about breastfeeding. We were planning on breastfeeding, as long as everything went well, so this class was pretty informative. They showed a video about the proper latch and how to tell if the baby is getting enough to eat, etc. Next week is about recovery and infant care, and there will be a pediatrician there to answer questions if we have any.

Friday we left for Valdosta with my parents... we got off to a late start because my parents were late meeting us for lunch. And then south of Atlanta there was crazy traffic for no reason which set us back some more... finally Andrew and I made it into Thomasville, where we were meeting my old friend Betsy (old as in elementary school :) facebook is amazing!) for dinner. We finally got there and ate dinner (at Applebees)... it was fun catching up and I got to meet her little girl Natalie, we took a picture too but my camera is out in the car so I'll have to post it later when I'm not feeling so lazy.
After dinner we drove the rest of the way to Valdosta and spent the night with my sister.The next morning we woke up early to meet my parents for breakfast before heading down to Panama City. We have a family reunion every Memorial Day weekend and this year there were SO many people there! It was nice seeing everyone and the new babies... our group picture this year was quite a task because for some reason we did it inside and crammed 50 people into a living room around a couch...
Anyways, by the end of that night I was EXHAUSTED! I might mention that my grandmother doesn't believe in A/C... so with 50 people in that house, and all the cooking is gets SO hot in there... never before has it ever felt that hot... I guess that's what happens when you're preggo.
So for dinner that night we ate with the family at a restaurant in Valdosta and as soon as we got back to my sister's house I crashed and went to bed. My feet and hands were nice and swollen by that point, and now my wedding rings don't fit :( So, I got some sleep... inbetween tossing and turning and waking up every 2 hours to go to the bathroom, I didn't get much. But Andrew offered to drive the first leg of the trip back home this morning, so I got a couple more hours after we hit the road early this morning. We stopped in Cartersville to eat lunch on the way home and then picked up our dogs (always a fun time... you'd think at least one of our dogs would like car rides, but no) and now we're home :) I'll work on getting the pictures on here sometime today or tomorrow. Hope every else had an enjoyable holiday weekend and has a great Memorial Day tomorrow!

garage sale

I work up early this morning to go to a big garage sale Walmart was sponsoring to raise money for the Children's Miracle Network... they basically just sold space, and people brought their stuff to sell. So there were like 10-12 people there and about 5-7 of them had baby stuff :) And... 4-5 of them had little girl stuff! woohoo! jackpot! I got 2 HUGE bags of clothes (so if you're wondering what I want for my shower... not clothes... I really have enough I think, if you *have* to buy me clothes because it's just too cute... get a big size, like 9 months and older, the older you go, the less clothes I have)

I also bought a high chair for $10 (a pretty white wooden one), and a bouncer seat for $3... oh and one of those Boppy pillows for $1. It's an off brand, but I think they still make covers for it... if not, oh well it was only a dollar! I got a few cute pairs of shoes and a couple cute bibs too... oh! and I got 2 baby carrier things... one's a sling and one's a backpack. The sling was $2 and the backpack was $1.... so I thought I'd try them. I didn't really think I wanted one, but I know a lot of people LOVE them... but I didn't want to spend $40 to try one... for $3 to try two... not so bad :)

more pictures...

It will only let me add 5 pictures per post, and I still had 2 more pictures to show you :)

The first one is a picture of the cradle I painted. It's for babydolls of course, but it was mine when I was little and Savannah and Madison both used it, and now Alexis will too :)






Here are the letters I painted... I love how they turned out :) They're right above the crib, length wise and on the same wall as the castle (the paint colors are also the same as the castle)

pictures

I have pictures of our living room, the hall bathroom and the letters for the nursery.

I painted the letters yesterday... it took SO long! But I love them, so it was definitely worth it.

I also have pictures of the hall bathroom. My best friend from when I was little sent me a congratulations baby gift for the bathroom... so thanks to Betsy I have a shower curtain and towels :)

The random frog and ribbon next to the mirror on the wall is for hair barrettes and clips... a friend of mine said that she saw something similar to it at a craft fair... I thought it was a cute idea, so I made one :)

mother's day/working on the house :)

So I had a great Mother's Day... Andrew gave me a small gift Saturday night after he got home from work- box of chocolates and a Ped Egg (which by the way, works really really well to get rid of callouses on your feet, you can get them at your local Walgreens). Then on Sunday I went out to eat with my family, and my dad got me a card :) I thought that was sweet, because obviously I'm not his mom or wife, so it was nice to be thought of :)
I also took my 27 week picture that night after I got home.

Today I have big plans to do some things around the house I've been meaning to get done. I'm going to paint and put up the letter's in the nursery, clean the back patio off (we've accumulated random stuff out there that doesn't really belong), and then there's a couple more crafty projects I've been meaning to work on that I'm going to try to get to today... lots of things to do around the house still before Alexis gets here :)

A couple days ago I rearranged the living room, and I LOVE the arrangement now... I'll have to take some pictures of it and post it, for those of you who knew what it looked like before. It just feels a lot more like a room now instead of being SO open. Because we don't have our tv in there, it was kinda hard to figure out a good arrangement for the furniture. (seriously, without a tv... what do you point all your furniture at?)

I also finally uploaded the pictures of our fence and will put them on facebook sometime today. I love having a fenced backyard. We just put Mayer's doghouse together today, so now she can stay outside when we're both gone... she loves it out there (not as much when she wants to come in and can't... but still likes it better than a crate), so hopefully she'll like her new house.

Oh and last night I started packing my "hospital bag"... my friend Lillian went into labor 2 months early (her and her little boy are both doing well... he's still in the hospital, but breathing on his own :)), so I decided to get a jump on things :) I also realized there's a lot of things I still need, so I'm glad I went ahead and did it, now I have a little bit of time to find and buy those things I still need before the time comes (for those of you who have lost count, I'm almost to 28 weeks, which is the last trimester... still 3 months to go though)

Well, I guess that's it... if I want to get anything done I need to get off the computer :)

first childbirth class

We had our first childbirth class today. It went pretty well I think... a lot of the first part of the class was stuff I already knew from reading books. Basically just text book information about pregnancy discomforts and how you know you're in labor. At the end of the class though we learned some the "pelvic tilt" which is suppose to help with back pain, and helps move the baby if she's not in the right position towards the end of the pregnancy. And we also learned the first breathing technique- deep breathing (or something like that). I have a feeling that one will be the easiest to remember when the time comes. But next week we learn 2 more breathing/relaxation techniques. And, even though I plan on getting an epidural, our teacher made a good point of saying that you don't really want to get one right away, and so you can do these relaxation exercises before we get the drugs.

Also, even though I do plan on getting an epidural, I don't want to get one right away anyway, because after you get it you are kinda stuck on your back and I want to be able to walk around and move as long as I can.

Anywho... that's all for now. Next week we do more of this stuff, so I'm looking forward to it :)

Back from Gatlinburg

We had such a great vacation! We ate way too much, but it was so good! I'll post some pictures on facebook tomorrow probably.

I had my Gestational Diabetes test yesterday which was no fun... the drink wasn't that bad... it was pretty gross, I definitely wouldn't choose it, but I managed it alright. But, when they were taking my blood I fainted. So that was no fun... And the nurse took blood from the top of my hand instead of the inside of my arm, which caused me to bruise and now my hand hurts...
But I did get to hear Alexis's heart beating, which I love! And I feel her move around every day, usually a couple movements at a time.

Oh, and Andrew finally felt her move the other day for the first time. We were resting in our hotel room in Gatlinburg, and I told him she was moving, so he came over to see if he could feel her (which he's started doing since a couple weeks ago), and this time Alexis actually cooperated and kicked right where his hand was. He was so happy! Very exciting...
Now, tomorrow we start our baby classes, and in less than 3 weeks we're going down to Florida for my side's family reunion... then in June... my baby shower :) woohoo!

my car is clean!

I cleaned out our garage and my car today... I guess my nesting has migrated to outside the house! I needed to clean out my car before the Gatlinburg trip, and I figured I'd do it today so it was clean for the Carmax people tomorrow (they're hopefully fixing my A/C tomorrow)

Anyway, while I was out there I cleaned out the garage... and I ended up switching sides... the side I used to park on is now being used for storage (our bikes, bulk items from Sam's Club, etc.) and my car is now on the other side...
I decided to switch them while I was cleaning it out because when I got in my car to move it out of the garage I had to squeeze to fit my belly between the wall and my car door... now my car door can open all the way so I won't have that problem :)

Anywho... that was very tiring, so after that I just sat around until tonight when I did some packing for our Gatlinburg trip. Since I'm going shopping tomorrow I wanted to make sure I had enough stuff to wear on the trip. I know I'm not known for my lack of clothing, but since I'm wearing maternity clothes now I wanted to take an inventory.... mostly because when I'm at home and don't have to go anywhere I just wear sweatshorts and a tshirt... and on our vacation I'll have to have 5 days (with 2 outfits a day-- nicer outfit for nice dinners) of real clothes... but I think I have enough. I might need one more nice outfit.

Anywho... I'm excited about my shopping trip, I'm hoping to find a dress to wear to my baby shower and I'm definitely getting the letters for Alexis's room... wish me luck finding a dress, because so far I've looked EVERYWHERE in Rome with no luck

busy next couple of months!

So I was just thinking about all of the things I have coming up, and I realized this summer is a busy summer!
Next week I'm going shopping on Monday down in Kennesaw with my friend Melissa for baby stuff. And then on Thursday we're leaving for Gatlinburg. We'll be there 5 days, so we'll be back the following Monday.
Then on Tuesday I have a doctor's appointment that I have to drink a gross orange drink to do my gestational diabetes test (it's a test to see if you have it... everyone has to do it). And then, two days after that on Thursday Andrew and I start our birthing classes at the hospital- the first two classes are about "late-pregnancy concerns, fetal development, and the physical and emotional process of labor and delivery", the next class we learn about breastfeeding and bottle feeding, the forth is recovery, baby care and safety. Fifth is infant and child CPR, and the last class we get a tour of the hospital (labor and delivery rooms, the nursery, etc.)

So, that will last 6 weeks. In between the beginning and end of that, I have a wedding we're attending on May 17, and then on Memorial Day weekend we're going down to Florida for a family reunion (my side of the family). I'm excited about that because I had to miss Thanksgiving this year because of work, and also my cousins will be there with their baby girls they just had (one in October, one in February).

After that I'll have another doctor's appointment and then it's June! The second weekend in June is my friend Melissa's baby shower, and then the weekend after that I'm having my baby shower (June 21). After *that* my calendar is pretty empty so far, but I'm sure we'll be busy doing any returns and exchanges from the shower and we'll also have to finish buying anything we need for the baby. And after my shower I'll only have 7 weeks until my due date... and she could always decide to come early... and after Alexis gets here I'll have no free time :p I can't wait though... time is going by so fast, but August definitely can not get here fast enough!

bathroom pics

Ok, so I'm still working on this picture thing... the pics Andrew's camera takes are too high of quality, so it's taking forever to load them!


Here are some pictures of the bathroom-