Birth Story is up!

So, maybe I'm running a bit behind but I finally did it! I finished writing up Abbi's birth story and posted it.  I back-dated the posts for March of last year to keep things kinda chronological but here are the links if anybody's interested:

The Backstory
Labor- Part 1
Labor- Part 2
Delivery
2 Weeks Later

Note: The only pictures I have from her birthday are in a separate post here.

The Big 2-6.

This week I turned 26!! The hubs took a few days off and we spent some nice quality time together walking the beach, cooking together...we even took a day trip to the Kennedy Space Center!

One of the things I LOVE about living in FL...all of these awesome places are day trips!!

 

We had a good time, but I gotta say...it wasn't great. I've been to NASA before; my family went when I was younger and I remembered it being really cool. You get to go out on this bus ride and see the building where they assembled the Saturn V rockets that took the Apollo missions to the moon as well as the Space Shuttles that have just recently been retired.  Then you get to go actually see a Saturn V rocket laid out showing all the different segments that break off.  Annnd....that's about it.  The whole center is about going to the moon.  And yes! It's really freakin' cool that we sent the first people to the moon and one of our astronauts still holds the record for being on the surface of the moon the longest (75 hrs...what?!) but y'all...that was almost 45 years ago!  We've done some pretty amazing things since then.  Granted, they're working on an exhibit for the space shuttle Atlantis so that should be pretty cool.  But really.  Can we talk about all the rovers we've sent to Mars or the International Space Station maybe?  I dunno...It was fun but there was some room for improvement.  DH and I agreed that we could make that place awesome if they'd put us in charge.  =)

 

The actual control room where they sent off Apollo 11, the one that took Neil Armstrong to the moon.

Still, my birthday was pretty great. Take-out sushi, brownies and ice cream (I'm not a huge cake lover), and the Avengers movie certainly made up for the disappointment at Cape Canaveral. 

DH inside the Gemini shuttle/pod thingy.

  

And my favorite picture of my favorite future astronaut!

Happy birthday to me!!

Oh! PS...the hubs got me a pretty awesome present!!

So excited y'all.  Like, whoa.

New Perspective

When I started this blog, I thought it would be a good way to keep people updated on our lives as we move around and as our little family grows.  Well, it turns out that I feel like I keep everyone pretty well updated...at least as far as I know.  What I mean is, every time I post something, I keep thinking to myself, "Why does anybody care?  Why would people want to read about my life?". And after I'd post something, I'd just tell my friends and family the same stuff over the phone, so why go to all the trouble?

As it turns out, over the past few days I think I've discovered a new reason for blogging.  Not for disseminating information or giving updates...I've decided that I can blog for myself.  To keep myself fresh and thoughtful and maybe even a tiny bit academic.  You see, being a stay at home mom is kinda my dream job, but y'all...I'm starting to feel really DUMB!.  Don't get me wrong; I love hanging out with my little girl, cooking good meals for my family, running errands, and keeping a schedule. But my critical thinking skills have waned, my organization is really suffering, and I'm even noticing that my acute awareness of correct grammar and punctuation is in decline.  In short, a lot of the things that made me feel like "me" are going away.  I don't know if blogging will help, but I'm willing to give it a shot.

I want to make it a goal to blog every week.  I'm thinking that, in order to do this I'll probably be posting sometime between Monday and Wednesday weekly.  Pictures may be in short supply for a while, partly because we just got new phones and partly because, well, I'm doing this for me and I don't care if my little journal has pictures.  At least not right now.  Baby steps, people!!

Ok, as this is my first post in a while, let me do a quick sum-up of where we are in our lives:
~ Baby girl is 10 months old and I can't believe I'm starting to plan her first birthday party.  Craziness! 
~She's crawling up a storm, "cruising" (walking along and holding onto furniture), and starting to talk. Her first word was "Mama" a couple of weeks ago.  Melt my heart! She also waves her hands, claps, and we're working on blowing kisses.
~We're currently living in Jacksonville, FL, but...
~Our new orders have us moving to Richmond, VA in May sometime.  We will be there for 1-3 years, depending upon a multitude of factors.
~One of our miniature pinschers (Betty) died suddenly this past May and we have a new pup, a min pin/chihuahua mix named Pebbles.
~We just bought a new car.  It's a...wait for it...minivan.  Yes, I know. Lame.  Wilson and I decided that trying to be cool wasn't worth the extra $$ or shoddy gas mileage.  Also, we stopped being cool a long time ago.  We're parents now and we accept that.  =)  We're actually really excited out the van!  Trying to come up w/ a good name for her.  My Grand Am was named Greta.  The new girl is a Honda Odyssey.  Olivia maybe? Helen?  I dunno....it'll come to me.

If I missed anything that anyone wants to know about, comment and I'll be sure to include it in my next post!  See y'all next week!

One Month Old

Wow, I can't believe my baby girl is a month old!  Milestones so far:

• She's smiling and cooing more and more everyday.  It's the absolute best!
• ...except for the day she giggled in her sleep!  So. Freaking. CUTE!!
• She's going 3-4 hours between feedings.  The other night, she went 5 hours!  I was in heaven!!
• She's playing by herself for about 10 minutes at a time.  She loves her play mat with toys that hang down and sitting in her Bumbo seat.
• Baby acne has reared its ugly head. I am afraid that she will have to contend with these types of skin issues much of her life, if her parents are any indication.
• She loves watching Wilma, our red Miniature Pinscher.  I have a few theories as to why she prefers looking at Wilma over Betty: a.) Wilma is very interested in her.  b.) Wilma is more active (Betty's kind of a bump on a log.) or c.) Wilma barks at her.  (She doesn't understand why this weird looking creature won't just get up and play with her already!!)

I'm working on getting Abbi used to sleeping in her own crib so that I can start sleep training shortly.  We're already taking baby steps to get ready, like starting a bedtime routine and only letting her nurse to sleep at night.  I'm researching options for sleep training now...it's very overwhelming.  I will probably combine a few different methods to find what works best for us.

In other news, the hubby left this week for 6 months and we moved to be closer to family.  It's been a crazy, emotional time but God has been faithful.  We're here at this time because He planned it that way (we certainly didn't!) so we're trusting that He'll get us through.  In any case, we're taking everything one day at a time and enjoying watching our little one grow!

 Not a great picture, but it gives perspective.  Granted, it's kind of a small recliner but still...she's about 21 inches long!! (We'll find out for sure next week.)

Abbi's first time at the beach!  Looks like she's enjoying herself, doesn't it?

Thanks for all of your love and prayers during this time of transition for us!

2 Weeks Later...

A few things I've learned:

• The puppies are doing GREAT with Abbi!  Wilma really wants to play with her...she'll crouch down and wag her tail and bark.  She just wants Abbi to chase her around!! Geez, why can't she MOVE yet?!?!
• Witch Hazel is a girl's best friend!  Helps take down swelling when applied topically.  It rocks!!
• I kinda feel like a heel asking Wilson to get up and change her diapers at night.  But then I remember that I'm up by myself doing everything when he has duty or underways and I get over it.  =)
• My girl is growing fast!  Her little feet are already to to the ends of her newborn sleep and play outfits.  Crazy!
• Cloth diapers + newborn = a whole lot of extra work.  We'll be putting those away until she's a bit older and can fit into the one-size-fits-all diapers.  We were having to change her diapers every 2 hours around the clock and she was getting rashy.  Like I said...we'll try again later.
• I never thought a little person could have so much personality.  I find myself laughing the faces she makes every day.
• All in all, we're having a blast with this new phase of life and our newest little addition!

 God is gracious!

Birthday Pictures!

 Just a few pictures from little Abbi's birthday!

Daddy holding his girl for the first time...so sweet!

Please don't judge...someone had already put my hairbrush in the car.  :-/

Admiring our beautiful girl

I just love this picture!  She's so sweet!

Ok, the whole reason for this picture is the looks on mine and Wilson's faces.  Haha, we were so excited!!

Pretty dress!

Us with the midwife who delivered Abbi.  Her name is Ashley and she was WONDERFUL!!

Stay tuned for the actual birth story...It's coming, I promise.  But no pictures unfortunately.  Everything went so fast we actually left the camera in the car! All of these pictures are from my mom's camera!!  =)

*Update*: The birth story us up!  Start here.

Abbi's Birth Story- Delivery

It was time. 6:18am, just me, Wilson, and the midwife, and I was finally allowed to start pushing.  I was so ready.

I pushed with each contraction, I stopped when Ashley said to, I cried out a little, I hurt SO much, and then, with a big gush, she was here. At 6:22 am, the midwife placed my baby on my stomach and all I could think was, "Oh my gosh, it's a baby.  It's a baby!"  Haha, duh, right?  Later I would find out that I had torn slightly, but right then, nothing mattered.

Wilson was busy helping the midwife do I don't know what so I had a moment to just rub my baby's little head and clean off her tiny face.  I had to actually get Wilson's attention (he was so task saturated he had to be reminded that something monumental had just happened).  And then, I lifted the blanket and looked.

"Wilson, it's a girl!"

What a moment.  He was the first to call her by her name ("Hi, Abigail!" was what he said. Original, right?) and he took her little hand and immediately fell in love.  I was still in too much shock to process anything; my head over heels moment came later when I was nursing her and my milk came in and she was mine. And I would do anything in the world for that little girl.

We just sat there, the three of us, becoming a family.  A few minutes later they would cut the cord, deliver the placenta, and I would sit up and begin the road to recovery.  I was able to nurse Abbi with very little trouble about 30 minutes after she was born.  My mom came in and helped me get a shower, then the midwife and birth assistant (who arrived about 20 minutes after I delivered) did Abbi's newborn assessment: 7lb, 2oz. 21 inches long.  Perfect in every way. A full head of brown hair, her daddy's blue eyes, and the prettiest baby any of us had ever seen.  The rest of the family got to meet her while I drank my Powerade and had a snack (including a pink cupcake!), and at 10:30am we were in the car heading back home.  Four hours after she was born. Incredible.

I took a crazy long nap that afternoon.  Bless my dear husband for entertaining our families even though he was exhausted too.  Over the next several days, Abbi would sleep mostly in the crook of my arm or on my chest while we got to know each other better.  She wasn't a fussy baby; didn't cry much even when she was first born.  To this day we always know that if she's crying, there's a reason.  She has also always eaten well.  My milk came in 2 days after she was born and thankfully we've never had any trouble on that score.  I'm still awe-struck that my body provided her with everything she needed to grow and thrive.

New life. What an amazing blessing; God is so good.