Easter 2012

We had a fun Easter this year. Amelia and I had fun decorating our eggs and baking cupcakes.

Graham's umbilical cord finally fell off and he got his first bath (with help from big sis). Yes, he sometimes enjoys his bath with his paci in his mouth, ha.

First Easter morning with two kiddos!

Amelia was excited about the loot in her basket. She got a Pinkalicious puzzle, a nightgown, Hello Kitty chapstick, a flower headband, bubbles, a chocolate bunny and candy.

Graham was pretty pumped for sister for show him what came in his basket. He got a stuffed frog, a pair of  PJs and a toy for his carseat.

G and I stayed home while Cliff and Mimi went to church. Katie was sweet enough to come over and take a few pics before they left.

After church, we went over to my grandmother's. Here she is meeting Graham for the first time.

Amelia had fun hunting eggs with her cousins. It was so funny when she would pick up a real egg. She would shake it and realize it didn't have any candy in it, and then throw it back down, ha.

Papa and Baby G.

Grammy and Papa and G.

About a week before Easter, Katie and I tried to get a sweet pic of Graham in his Easter basket, but he didn't love it. He threw up shortly after this pic, ha.

I'm so sad that we didn't get a photo of our family of four at Easter! I meant to, just didn't stop and make it happen. I am so bad about that when Katie is not around! Oh well, there will be plenty of time for family photos later.

Graham's first month

I am a couple of weeks behind with this post, but I really do have an excuse (besides the whole having a newborn thing). Our computer was down for two weeks. Now, it's back in working order and I am finally sitting down to document Graham's first month. I did this with Amelia and I am so glad I did. At one month old, Graham:

• weighs about 9 pounds, I am guessing. He was 7.14 at birth, lost down to 7.6 in the hospital, and was 8.3 at his two week check-up. Coincidentally, that is what big sister weighed at birth.
• is about 21.5 inches long. He's grown about an inch since birth.
• wears mostly newborn and 0-3 months clothes
• is a pretty decent nurser and sleeper. He goes about 4 hours between feedings, sometimes more, sometimes less. Nursing is going much better at this point than it did with sister.
• is starting to focus his eyes on people and objects, rather than the wild-eyed thing newborns do at first.
• loves taking a bath!
• enjoys spending time in his swing (unlike sister did), but is also a little spoiled already and really loves to be held and to snuggle.

The first month totally flew by! We have all adjusted really well to having a new baby in the family, and I couldn't be prouder of Amelia. She absolutely adores him, and jumps at the chance to help. She hasn't once shown any signs of jealousy. I know this might change eventually, but for now, we are enjoying what a precious big sister she is being.

We had a newborn photo shoot with Lindey, and I will be sharing those photos as soon as I get my act together and get the birth announcements sent out. We got some really sweet ones of the two of them together that I can't wait to share. Although it's only been a few weeks, we already can't imagine life without our sweet baby Graham. He is just the piece of our family that we didn't even know we were missing!

Welcome, baby Graham!

I have some catching up to do! I talked in my last post about my 36 week check up. The next week when I went in, I was dilated one centimeter. Then when I went back the next week for my 38 week visit, I was dilated four centimeters! I still thought I had a little more time, so I went ahead and went to work the next day. After I got home that evening, I noticed my contractions were a lot closer together than they had been, and some of them were semi-painful. I wasn't ready to rush to the hospital just yet. I figured they would become really painful, or my water would break. But then I had a fear that by the time I was in real pain that it may be too late to get my beloved epidural, ha.

After texting my doctor, (LOVE the fact that we're on texting terms, ha) she told me if I had three contractions in 30 minutes, to come on over to the hospital. Luckily for me, she was on call that evening and was already going to be at the hospital delivering another baby. After that, I ended up having three contractions in the next 15 minutes. I still couldn't quite believe it was real, but we decided to head over to the hospital anyway. I was so afraid of being labeled "The Girl Who Cried Labor" and being sent home. But as it turned out, I was already at 5 centimeters when I got there so they got me checked in, we called our families, and I got my epidural. By this time it was around 10 p.m.

After laboring throughout the night, it was time to push at around 4:30 a.m., and at 4:53, sweet baby Graham arrived weighing 7 pounds, 14 ounces and was 20 and a half inches long. Thankfully, he wasn't as big as my earlier ultrasounds had indicated that he might be. However, I guess he might have been if he had waited a couple more weeks until my due date. My labor and delivery were much easier than with his big sister too.

We're doing great and enjoying our time at home now. I can't believe he will be two weeks old tomorrow! Big sister has been an absolute angel with him. She's been a little louder than normal, and a little more obnoxious at times seeking attention, but she's been SO sweet with her baby brother, and a great helper for me. Life is good!

And now a few pics:

Quick shot before heading to the hospital. I really didn't think it was for real!

Sister got out of bed at 3 a.m. to come meet her brother!

Jackson is a big cousin!

This makes my heart so happy!

All dressed up to go home

 

Loving getting his hair washed at home

I love nothing more in life than a clean baby in a hooded towel!

Hey y'all!

I meant to share nursery pics before he was born, but since he surprised us with an early arrival, I didn't get a chance. Hopefully I'll find some time to share those soon!

36 weeks

I had my 36 week check-up this morning, and everything looks good. I haven't dilated any yet, so baby boy should be hanging out inside for a little while longer. I'm glad. We still have a few things to get done to get ready for his arrival. But progress is definitely being made. His room is almost done and I'm finishing up some projects at work. Cliff finishes up the regular season this week, and the girls will be playing in the state tournament in Tupelo all next week. I was hoping baby Graham would hang in there, at least until after the state tournament. We don't know yet if the girls will make regionals or nationals again this year yet, but even if they do, I'm pretty sure Cliff won't make the trip to Kansas this year. We'll see.

Bless my heart, I know I am huge! And check out those swollen ankles. I totally put my shoes on just to have my secretary take this photo, ha. I have definitely reached the "barefoot and pregnant stage." To compare, here I am at 35 weeks with Mimi:

Hard to tell the difference since the pics are at slightly different angles. I feel sure I am a little bigger than I was at this point with her. This is the last official pregnancy photo I took with her too. I did take one on the morning we went to the hospital to have her, but that photo has not, and will not ever see the light of day, ha. I think I'll try to keep it real and at least take a couple more photos in the next few weeks just to document this pregnancy. Now whether I choose to share them is a different story.

Hoping to share finished nursery pics very soon!

32 weeks

Well, let's give me a little more credit, I'm actually 32 and a half weeks now, ha. I went to the doctor for an ultrasound the other day and was informed of what I already thought to be true...I am carrying a big boy! I have been measuring a couple of weeks ahead consistently throughout my pregnancy, but this week my doctor wanted to peak in and see just how big baby brother is. Everything looked great, and he is already between 4 and 5 pounds. I couldn't remember how many ounces she said because my eyes were fixed on the screen when she measured his head. I was busy freaking out a little when I saw that his head is measuring 36 weeks, a whole month ahead! Yikes!

Here's a sweet shot of the man-child:

My doctor isn't concerned at this point, but they will check again closer to my due date, and then we may have to discuss a c-section if it comes down to it. I don't want to have to do that, but I am not interested in birthing a huge baby, ha! Amelia was 8 pounds and 3 ounces and was 21 inches long when she was born at 39 weeks. Considering the big and tall boys in my family, such as Cliff, Chris and my brothers who are all 6'3-6'7, I guess I shouldn't be surprised to have a big boy on my hands. At least it helps explain why my belly is so big.

And speaking of, here's the big mama today, at 32.5 weeks.

This was me a couple of weeks ago, at 30 weeks:

We are making lots of nursery progress, and I am so excited about it. I can't wait to post pics when we're done. His room, as I am sure will be the case for most things about this boy, is SO different from his sister's. I am really starting to look forward to meeting baby Graham and seeing what he will be like. Not much longer now!

A mega Christmas re-cap

Well hello there, 2012. I suppose it's past time for me to do a Christmas post. I have been waiting to share Christmas pics here and on facebook because I have misplaced my camera and kept hoping it would turn up. Sadly, it still hasn't, so I'm just going to recap our holiday and share some pics that I got leading up to Christmas and some that Katie took on Christmas Day, the last day that I can remember seeing my camera. I can't even handle the thought of having absolutely no pictures of Mimi from Christmas! Thank goodness for Aunt Katie.

I am overwhelmed at how behind I am on recording our family' memories, so I will just make this mostly pics and try to do better from now on. I really want to do an update on everthing Amelia is up to these days soon. She is such a mess!

I'll start with a cell phone pic of her decorating her pink tree the day after Thanksgiving. This year was the year of enthusiasm. She was so excited about every little thing to do with Christmas. We had fun decorating her very own tree.

Amelia got to participate in the children's program for the first time this year. We were SO proud of her for standing up in front of the church like such a big girl and singing her songs.

Impossible to get a good pic of that many kiddos!

 She was excited that Grammy came to see her. Papa had prior commitments at their church. Aunt Katie, of course, was also there but she was the one taking these pics, so no evidence of her, ha.

She also got to attend a fabulous party with her Mission Friends class.

Mrs. Brenda and Mrs. Bethany did a great job with their party, and the kids had a blast decorating cookies and cupcakes. Have I mentioned how much I adore our church and the preschool department? Amelia LOVES going to church, and I love that she is learning about Jesus and the real Reason for the season at such a young age.

We got to spend a day with Baby Jackson while Mare was in a wedding during the holidays. How cute is he in this onesie I made for him?

We made our annual trip to the Mall of Lousiana with Lindey and Pailyn to see Santa. You may recall that we haven't had a successful photo with Santa since she was 8 weeks old.

Well, my friends, we had success this year! This isn't a great pic. I was trying to sneakily break the rules of no photos, ha. I do have the actual ridiculously overpriced photo that we purchased, and I plan to scan it and include it here for our memories. She had a big ole grin on her face and I loved every second of it.

She was so excited to meet Santa, and although she hesitated just for a second, she hopped on up in his lap and told him that she wanted a princess castle and "a lot of colored lipsticks." Of course, this was after she had requested a dollhouse for the past couple of months. She saw a commercial for the Disney princess castle about a week before Christmas. We had to tell her that Santa had already made her dollhouse, ha.

We had a lot of fun playing at home in the days leading up to Christmas. This was an especially fun day because she got a new teaset in the mail from Uncle Chris and Aunt Kaki. We immediately had to have a goldfish picnic on the living room floor.

 We also made some cookies for Santa. She was really pumped about it here, but lost interest while they were baking. Oh, and Grammy and Papa stopped by to play.

 I ended up having to finish most of them myself. She did add a few sprinkles though.

And then, the day finally came! Even though she had some sassy and not-so-well-behaved days this year, Santa still thought she had been a very good girl and brought her a dollhouse, a lot of colored lipsticks, some books, some Dora bath toys, some DVDs and her very first basketball goal!

We had to wait forever for her to wake up on Christmas morning. When she finally did, she was a little groggy and didn't go as nuts as I had hoped, but she was still very excited. We have it all on video and I took some photos, but you know, the whole camera being lost thing is preventing me from sharing.

Luckily Katie came over before we got ready for church and snapped a few pics of Mimi and her new stuff.

Last year as a family of three at Christmas! (My face was totally swollen here, I'm sure due to the excessive amount of salty foods I consumed on Christmas Eve, ha.)

On Christmas Eve we went to my grandparents house, as usual. Since my grandfather just passed away in October, it wasn't exactly the cheeriest of days for everyone there, so I didn't take many photos. After church on Christmas Day, we went to Cliff's Aunt Lisa's to have lunch with their side of the family, and then we went to my parents' that evening for supper. Katie came along with us, so that's why I have a few pics from that night.

By this point in all our holiday running around, I am always dragging. These babies looked like I felt that night!

But when they woke up, they were ready to go!

 Amelia got a ridiculous amount of gifts from my parents and siblings. She is such a blessed little girl!

 Pretending to be a country girl with my brother's grunt call. (At least I think that's what it is called.)

 We were so glad to have the Walkers home from Alabama to celebrate our first Christmas with sweet baby Jackson.

 I am so crazy about my precious nephew! He is seriously the happiest, sweetest baby ever.

This little girl is pretty crazy about her aunt too.

We are SO incredibly blessed to have great families, a wonderful church and so many wonderful friends. Amelia got an insane amount of gifts this year, but I hope in years to come she will learn more about giving to those less fortunate than us, and all of the other things that go along with Christmas that don't involve getting presents. It's hard to believe that next year we will have a little baby boy crawling around in front of the Christmas tree. I'm pretty sure our fun has only just begun!