Piper Grace Is Here...

Well actually she arrived 3 weeks ago tomorrow. 3 weeks?!?! My gracious time is already flying. I want to make it slow down. Just want to soak up every moment of this time even though it is very crazy around here ;)

I know it has been for.ev.er since I have blogged but I think I am finally starting to find a groove. I am hoping things will find a way of falling into place and our new normal will calm down.. just a tad.

Anywhoodles my friend Kate has been on me about my lack of blogging and I want to get Piper's birth story written out so this way I can kill two birds with one stone ;)

I am going to take you back to two weeks before my due date. I had a normal appointment scheduled and had been feeling quite a bit of pressure so I decided to fill my doctor in so he could check things out. He told me I was 3 cm and about 50 percent effaced. I immediatly got excited thinking the end was in sight. I would be meeting my girl anytime now. All I had to do was leave that doc office, walk my little booty off and she would be here. Right? WRONG! I had no idea people walked around at a 3 for weeks. So each appointment I went (twice a week bc my blood pressure was elevated) I was just waiting on him to tell me I had progressed and we were going to the hospital.. no such luck!

When my 39 week appointment rolled around (and let me tell you I thought that baby was never coming ;) I started to talk to my doc about induction. My bp had elevated more, I was incredibly uncomfortable and the swelling.. oh my goodness! I mean I looked like I had just backed up to an airhose that somebody had left on full blast. Not cute.  My doc was incredibly sweet and made an appointment to induce me the next morning. I was pumped.

I went home and grabbed my Emma. I wanted to have one more day with just us girls. We met my friend for lunch and while at lunch I started to hurt a little but no biggie. I continuted to hurt like that off and on the rest of the afternoon. I called Derek and let him know I was having some pains but nothing major. He rushes home from work like I told him my water broke or something (truth be known I think he was just as anxious and excited as I was). He comes home and I clean and tinker around a little bit. All the while he is saying " I think we need to go to the hospital..." " I think you are in labor.."  I was very reluctant. I did not want to be "that" girl that rushes in and is not really in labor. The pain was not doubling me over. Chores were still getting done without scream of pain.. no way this was labor. Finally he convinced me to go.

We arrived at the hospital the doc does a quick little check and says "Honey are you sure you are not in more pain than a 2 or 3 on the pain scale" I was 6cm, fully effaced, and was being admitted. It went by so quickly. They were giving me my epidural and I had not even hurt bad at all. I was excited and thought "heck yea.. I lucked up on this one..did not even have to feel one bad contraction"

I got all tucked in, my mom, sis, and bestie came to be there with Derek and I. Everybody thought labor would zip right along since I was a six with out even knowing it. However, that was not the case. I was checked in about 630, epidural around 745, and labor kind of slowed down. I was comfortable though so at least the slow down wasnt that painful. The doc came in and checked quite frequently for my moms sake bc  she did not want to be up there all night if baby girl was going to wait until the am. Finally around 1215 the doc said.. she is about an 8 but I have no idea how long it will take her to progress. Everybody took that bit of info as it could be a while and they left for the night.

As soon as they left I settled into bed expecting to catch a little snooze, Derek was all curled up on the not so comfy couch bed, and things were quiet. I swear to you it wasnt 15 to 20 minutes later and I felt the pressure. If you have had babies before you know what I am talking about. Derek called the nurse and sure enough I was a 10 and ready to go. They got the doc called in and everything set up. All the while I was pushing my epidural button like a mad woman... ya know just in case!

As I began to push I realized real quick this was going to be far more painful than with Emma. I did not feel anything with E.. I just assumed it would be the same with Piper...WRONG again. I was trying to be a champ and push through it. I knew if I could just get that baby girl here the pain would be over. However, me being the weenie that I am I screamed half way through it for my nurse to please push my button LOL.  9 minutes later (start to finish) Piper Grace was here! She was 8lb and 9oz 21 1/4 inches long.. that is a big baby my friends. No wonder it hurt alot more than my little 6lb 18 inch long Emma!! Lets just say all of those Newborn clothes wont last long this time around :(

She is perfect in every way though. We are adoring every second with her and she has a great big "sissy"  Emma is very proud and protective. She is for sure soaking up all the extra attention she is getting right now.

I will update a little more later on our transition and everything but for now I want to leave you with a few pics... I have a little sweet girl in there starting to stir. Must be eating time ;)

I will be back soon.. promise!! Thank you sweet friend for sticking around even though it was like 2 months in between post.

Talk to you soon!
XO
Tyler

Our Pictures Are Back!!

Hey everyone!

I am home safe and sound from The Big Apple! The trip was a blast and I can't wait to show you some pics and share all the details.

First things first though, while I was gone a very happy package came in the mail. Our photoshoot pics from Mckmama! 

I must say I was very pleased with how they all turned out...

(Emma was dancing and being a total camera ham for her.. it was hilarious)

Her ability to capture things so crisp and so clear amazes me...

I am inspired and can't wait to get out there again with  my own camera.

To sum it up.. we had a great time..

It was a wonderful expierance...

and I am so happy Jennifer (Mckmama) was able to capture a little bit of our famly.

Hope you enjoyed your extra long sneak peak...



Happy Tuesday everyone!!

Trip details later :)

Help! I need somebody...

I need somebody who is willing to give me some advice.  I am in a predicament with my little one and not sure what is the best way to go about fixing the problem.

Emma has been potty trained for a few weeks now maybe even a month and half or so. Obviously I win mom of the year for not knowing exactly when we made the monumental switch from diapers to panties but I digress. Anyways she has done really well and accidents were very few and far between. She wears panties all the time does fantastic.

Everything was well and good until the past few days I have noticed her purposely going stinky in her panties. I am 99.9 percent sure this is not the occasional accident going on here. The girl knows when she has to go and knows how to hold it until she can get to the potty. I have seen her do it time and time again for the past 6 weeks or so.

These episodes have been going on about a week and they are so frustrating. Part of the reason they are so frustation to me is because I know its not that she isnt making it to the potty on time or that she is "afraid" to use the big girl potty. Not the case here I dont think.So I decided to cool down about it and start taking note of when the accidents were happening and what was going on. In the past two days all of her "accidents" were when she did NOT have my full attention. I even noted one time that she went to her room, shut the door, and did her business. Now tell me if she has time to calculate in her sweet little head that she has to go and runs to her room and does it then why could she not have stopped at the potty on the way? While this was going on Derek and I were sitting at the breakfast table having a conversation instead of the usual daddy/Emma morning play time. It is purely a call for attention I think but how to handle/discipline it is my issue?! It clearly needs some attention as I will be put in the looney bin myself if we dont get it figured out.

What are your suggestions? If this is some type of cry for attention then what in the world am I going to do come August?

Let me just reassure you that this child is not attention deprived at all. She is just used to my undivided attention and when I am distracted from her she gets defiant. Please help...


*Disclaimer...I am open to any and all options short of sending her off to boot camp ;) *

Lake Days

The weather has been absolutly gorgeous here lately. Lots of 70's and 80's with plenty of sunshine (and the occasional spring storm) so we have been spending lots of time outside. Alright my @imaginaryfriends that are further north don't be upset with me about the weather ;) I have been trying to get you peeps to move down here for a year or so now. LOL

Anyways with the weather so warm we were looking for something different and outdoorsy to do. Derek has been wanting to go to the lake but I have been reluctant. My dad always lived on the lake and basically raised me on the water. I knew it would be hard but dad would want me to take my girl to the lake rather than sit home and mope that I can't share the lake with daddy anymore. So to the lake it was.

Derek's grandparents have a lake home so we started by going down there (thinking it may be a bit easier than to actually go to dad's house) Emma LOVED it!

She walked straight to the water and hopped right on in. I knew my dad would be so happy to see those precious little feet in the water :)

With the confidence of her daddy by her side sticking her feet in the water suddenly wasn't quite enough..

The girlie quickly requested to go "more swimming!"

So "more swimming" she did! In her skibbies because this momma didn't even think to take a bathing suit to the lake in April. I was thinking at the most maybe toes in the lake.. boy was I wrong. Don't worry she did not get hypothermia or even pnuemonia (however you spell that ;) She had a blast and is definatly a little lake girl.. just like her pappy would have wanted!

Today however was a bit more difficult. My step-mother has been calling for weeks asking me to bring E down there to visit. I have been incredibly slack and not gone down there to see her. I know it is very selfish of me to not want to go when she has to be there day in and day out with out dad but... its just the way I have handled it. I finally caved in today and went. It was so hard. I was able to control my emotions at the time but I kept having flashbacks. I could see my poor little daddy just laying there, or I would remember horrible things that happend. I could not stand it. I still can not stand it. It is like he passed away again all over today. It took me weeks to get all of that out of my head and today with one foot in the door frame they all came rushing back and knocked me off my feet.

I want to be strong, I want to be able to go down there and let her play in the lake and grow up a little lake baby but it will never be the same. If I am being perfectly honest I think what hurt more than anything was that my little girl didn't even ask for her pappy. She will recognize him in pics and when we say our prayers she always mentions him but I just don't want her to forget what a special pappy she had.

With all of that said I will continue to pick up the pieces, keep reminding her of how wonderful he was, and be strong. He would want nothing less of me.

So sorry to spill all of this on ya but just needed to get it off my chest tonight. Please say a little prayer for me and hopefully tomorrow will be a new and better day :)

She Is A Star

This past weekend Emma was in our local Earth Day Parade. They had to do it a couple of weeks early because there is something else pretty big going on in the community this weekend and then Easter was next weekend. So we celebrated a little early ;)

My Aunt was going to lead the parade dressed up as Mother Earth and asked if Emma could be Little Miss Mother Earth and walk along side her. I was a bit concerned that Emma would not walk with her or perhaps break out in tears half way through the walk.

As you can see I was very wrong. My girl ate up all the attention and was the star of the show.

She even made front page of our local paper ;)

Just wanted to share something a little fun from our weekend! Hope everyone has a great Tuesday :)

Wardrobe Malfunction

Today (writing this Sunday night.. because ya know.. I am proactive like that ;) was the day I had been waiting on for a month or so now. I had been planning for this day. I was pumped to the core to get our first ever family pictures made! Yes, I am aware of the fact that Emma is 2 and a half and we are a little behind schedule on the family portrait. What can I say? Slack I guess ;)

Anyways Mckmama had announced on her blog a while back that she was coming to Charlotte to do a weekends worth of photoshoots. I knew this was my opportunity not only to have our pics taken by a great photographer but to meet someone that I have commented/tweeted/fb'ed with for a little over 2 years now. So have I mentioned yet that I was really pumped up about the whole idea? Ok.. because I was! ;)

So this morning the day had come and I thought I had everything under control. We made it out the door on time for church (which is an accomplishement in itself) and came back home to change clothes and scarf down some lunch.  Emma was busy dumping all the puzzles out in the middle of the floor while I was trying to get dressed so I was a little distracted. I was yelling down the hall to her "Clean up your mess, come get dressed, hurry hurry we are going to be late" all the while trying to get my hair fixed, Derek motivated, and you know the usual stuff. We finally make it out the door.. only 5 minutes behind schedule..not to bad right!?

Once we arrive at location for the photoshoot we get E's shoes back on (because ya know, heaven forbid we ride in the car and keep our shoes on) and rush over to see "Miss Jennifer." I had my cell phone with me as a just in case so I went to slide it in my pocket while we were walking over to the bridge (where the pics were) and realized that my pockets went straight to my rump! You got that right.. in all of my distracted, rushing getting ready madness I had put my pants on backwards!!!!

Now give me a little credit, I am pregnant so my pants dont have like a zipper and snaps etc, they just slide right on up. 

The whole time we are walking over I am praying we will find a bathroom so I can change my pants around. No dice! Derek was trying to convince me to "just hide behind a tree and turn your pants around.. no big deal" There was no way this preggo was going to try and hide my big arse behind a tree and fix my pants! He had lost his mind.

So we get there, meet up, chat a little and then the dreaded question "So what type of pics do you want? Do you want family shots, shots more of her(emma), etc" I knew I had to say more of Emma because other wise below my pregnant belly all you would see is this saggy butt thing because.. yep.. my pants were on backward. I did end up fessing up to her about my wardrobe malfunction and she just brushed it off and was great about it. (You know deep down she was thinking.. geeze blondie!! ;)

So needless to say any family pics that she caught of the three of us will be close ups! Don't worry though Miss Emma hammed it up for her. I can never have to many pics of my girl, never!

In other news (but still related) I had a great expierance getting our pics made. Jennifer was so sweet and genuine. I really enjoyed my time with her. Time flew by though! On our way out we got to see her sweet children. They are just as precious and wonderful as they are on her blog. I wanted to just scoop them all up and give them a hug but I refrained. Even though I feel like I know them so well through her blog I know I would have  been a stranger to them. Precious family!

Five Question Friday!! :)

Hey bloggy buddies!! I am so glad to be back and excited to hope on the 5QF train with the wonderful Mama M. If you want to join in just click on the little linky link over there and get started. Its super fun :)

I have to get down to business because this momma is tired tonight (yes I am writing this Thur night ;) I took Emma to see the movie "Hop" today so we kind of had to skip her nap. As if its not bad enough to skip a nap with this crazy one but I also let myself her induldge in some candy and a coke while we were there. We got back home this afternoon and she was bouncing off the walls until literally she just crashed in the bed.

On a side note "Hop" was a pretty cute movie. Sometimes it was a little over E's head but she was still entertained and did pretty well.

Alright well lets get to the questions...

1. If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be?
One thing?? Hmmm... that is hard. The question did not really narrow it down to whether that would be a physical or a character trait so I am going to pick a character flaw of mine.  I would change my worry-wart"ism"  I am such a worry wart. I worry over every thing and alot of times am unable to just relax and live in the moment. I am a woman of faith and know that if I am worrying then I am not trusting God to the fullest but it is so hard. I am a work in progess and try to do a little bit better every day :)

2. Write about a time when you got lost.
Lost? Me? Never! Truthfully I get lost so much that I am having a hard time coming up with one incident that is blogworthy. I mean it is so bad Derek gave me a GPS for Christmas and I use it. Frequently.

Ok 'nough said on this one.. no story to tell here ;)

3. Camping or 5 star hotel?
A 5 star hotel any day! I am not a camping, out in the woods, cooking over the fire, tent loving type of girl. I am not high maintance by any strectch of the imagination (well my imagination anyways... you might want to check with Derek and see what he says.) but outdoors for the weekend just ain't my thang. I can handle an evening bonfire type deal and be perfectly happy with a beer and a smore but over night? With the bears? Nope.. not this chick (not by my choice anyways)

4. Have you donated blood?
Yes but only once. Does that make me a bad person? It was in high school and rather uneventful. I am not really sure why I have not given since but...... OK I dont really have an excuse. Just laziness I guess. Dont hate me.

5. Do you have a budget or do you 'fly by' most months?
We are more of the "fly by" type. Not because I am not anal about money (did you see question 1? I am a worry wart remember?) but literally when I write it out on paper it never really works out. Seriously every month that I am able to stay  home with my girl is another blessing from God. He provides and makes a way for it to work. We may not have a huge retirement account building at the moment and our savings is pretty pitiful but for us this is what is working. We both feel confident in our decisions and feel like God is taking care of us.

Well that wraps up the first week in months I have been able to participate in 5QF! I am so excited to be back and hope to be able and hop around to your blogs this afternoon!

Have a great weekend everyone and Happy Friday!!!

PS: I ALMOST forgot to mention something. Guess who is in town this weekend? Mckmama. She is going to be taking our first ever family portraits on Sunday. I am so excited.. I know she will do a fantastic job! :)