Our Beautiful Baby

Well, we have been home a week now and are very tired but very happy. God has blessed us with 2 beautiful children. Adriana continues to do good with Paxton, however she has pouting fits just about everyday, but I know its just all part of it.

Besides the lack of sleep, I am truly enjoying having a little baby around again. He is a good baby and is very laid back. Right now, our biggest challenge is that he seems to have his days and nights mixed up, so hopefully he will adjust soon!

We meet with the surgeon in the morning about his hernia. We ended up taking him to the ER the other night being concerned over his hernia. I figured it was nothing, but for a peace of mind we took him in. Of course, these problems can't arise in the middle of the day, no, we ended up going to the ER at 11pm on a Friday night and waited until 2am to see the doctor, we didn't get home until 4am. We have yet to recover from this midnight adventure. He was, of course, fine, but I will be glad to get the hernia taken care of, so I won't worry so much all the time.

Here are some pictures we have taken in the past week. Sorry I have been slack on the blog, but any free time, I try to snag a nap and/or doing household chores. I'll keep you posted about his doctors appt tomorrow.

First Family Photo (you can tell how tired I am

by the puffiness of my eyes). Picture taken

on Thanksgiving Day.

Doing better

Well, I wanted to update everyone and let you know that Adriana was back to her old self yesterday. She seems to be doing a lot better with the baby and trying to help out as much as possible. She has warmed back up to me again and is being so sweet to everyone. She has stopped what she is doing and will just go over and kiss Paxton on the head and then go back and finish what she was doing. A cute thing that she does is, whenever he spits up a little, she will run and grab a trashcan so he can get sick in that. She is being so good and trying to be a little mommy to him. What an answer to prayer!
We took him today for his 2 day appointment and found out that he has a hernia and will need surgery sometime soon to fix it. It's in his lower abdomen. The doctor said if it doesn't get fixed it could kill part of his intestine and he would need major surgery. We meet with the surgeon next week to talk about it more. Please keep that in your prayers too.
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and that's so hard to believe. Ryan's family was suppose to make their way to our house for this week of Thanksgiving, but unfortunately they all were sick and had to cancel at the last minute. We were looking forward to seeing them and spending the holiday with them, but know that it wouldn't have been fun for them to travel all that way while feeling under the weather. Hopefully we will get to see them before Christmas.
I have so much to be thankful this year (as I do every year) but truly feel blessed with such a great family. I couldn't ask for more. I have a very sweet, loving and understanding husband who is a wonderful dad. A sweet little girl, who has a tender heart and is more than I could have asked for. And a sweet little, laid back baby, who I'm anxious to get to know more. Me and Ryan are both blessed with wonderful parents and extended family too. God has blessed us with a wonderful new house this year and all the little things that we tend to take for granted, He has provided them all along our way. We also feel blessed to have such great friends. Thank you to all of you who are there whenever we need you, who will pray for us and who loves us despite our downfalls. May you and your family have a great holiday tomorrow and enjoy every minute of it.

First Encounters

Well last night was the first time Adriana and Paxton met. I have been very anxious for this moment for some time. I wondered what Adriana would think about him and having him around. She did really good at first. She liked seeing his pacifier and seeing his fingers and all his little features. She liked holding him and was just curious about him for a long time. However, that quickly changed. She hasn't wanted anything to do with me since I left for the hospital. She never wanted to talk on the phone with me or give me the time of day. Last night, I thought she would be excited to see me, but she didn't hardly look at me. She was very upset with me and only wanted me to hold the baby and let no one else hold him. It was very hard on me seeing her act that way. Later on, Ryan gave her a bath and she just looked at him with tears in her eyes and told him that she didn't want baby brother around anymore and that she didn't like him. Well, of course this crushed Ryan and he started crying then he thought I could come in and talk to her and I started crying. It was a very rough night. She didn't want to go to bed or talk to us about why she was so upset. I laid down with her for a little bit at bedtime and later heard her crying in her room. I went in and talked to her some more. She just wanted me to lay with her and hold her hand. She was fighting sleep so much, but was so upset. I had to go in there one other time and do the same thing, hold her hand, while she fell asleep. Needless to say, mine and Ryan's hearts were broken last night. I knew it would be a HUGE adjustment for her, but I didn't think she would be so heart broken over Paxton.
Today was a better day. She has talked to him and has let me love on her. We are trying to keep things as normal as possible, but also trying to include him in our lives. It will take time, but I am thankful that today is going a lot better.

Paxton has done very well so far. He is a very laid back baby. He has yet to cry here at home, which I am thankful for. He's a good sleeper and just takes it all in.

Here are some pictures of Adriana and her new baby brother.

Despite the look on her face, this is when she

was still excited about her new brother.

Mimi, Paxton, Adriana and her new baby

Today, which is a lot better, Adriana standing

next to Paxton while he's "just a swingin'"

Our New Son

Here are some pictures of Paxton. He is such a great baby. He sleeps a lot and seems to be really laid back (lets hope he stays that way:)) . I have enjoyed just holding him and resting today and look forward to Adriana meeting him tomorrow. Thanks to everyone for their well wishes, calls and prayers.



Me before Paxton came (and before the pain
started).


Paxton as soon as he came out. The nurses
couldn't believe how big he was.


9lbs 13 oz


Daddy on the phone with HeeHee.


Holding on to Daddy's hand.


Paxton and Mommy


Paxton and his 3 chins





Family photo (missing Adriana, she's not allowed
in the hospital due to the Swine Flu.)

Paxton's Here

Just wanted to update everyone and let you know that everything went so smoothly. They broke my water at 8:45am and he was born by 1:06pm. Everything went so quickly. He is a big baby! He weighs 9lbs 13oz and 21 inches long. The nurses kept teasing and saying that he was as big as a toddler. Adriana was 9lbs 0oz so I was expecting to have a big one. I will try to post pictures soon. Thank you to all for all your thoughts and prayers for us, God has truely blessed us with 2 beautiful children.

Due Date

Well, here we are, Nov 19th and its our due date and there's nothing! No signs that this child is coming anytime soon! I have a doctors appt in the morning and will set up my time for being induced on Saturday. I'm trying to take in these last few days and nights without a screaming baby. I feel like I'm on a roller coaster ride. Where you are slowly going up the huge hill and the cart is ticking because you are about to go over the huge drop. Its that anxious feeling that you get.

We went to a visitation tonight for an ex-boss that both me and Ryan worked for at the dealerships and saw lots of people we don't see anymore. One of the guys said that my belly looked fake because it was so big. Thanks! I'm defiantly uncomfortable and ready to start the new phase.

A Happy Heart

I don't know why I am thinking of this all of a sudden, but there are little things that Adriana does, that I want to write down so I won't forget. She is (for the most part) a very happy, loving child. Its so funny to me, the little things that can make her day.
For instance...
Every time we wash our hands in a public restroom, she is so excited about what color and what kind of soap they have. Its like a little surprise every time. When we squirt it, she says "Ooooh, pink soap!" or "Ooooh, foam soap" and so on. I never noticed how many different soaps there were out there until I had her point them out to me, EVERYTIME!
Another funny thing was, she LOVES to blow out candles or "cankles" as she calls them. Last night I asked her if she wanted to blow out a candle and she jumped up so happy and started singing, "This little light of mine", with the hand motions and all and finally blew it out.
The last little story was this morning, when I was getting her out of the van, she noticed the ground was wet and starting singing "Its raining, its pouring" (although it wasn't raining at all).
All these little things just make me stop and think about how the little things make her so happy. She literally, stops and smells the roses and truly enjoys life.

Christmas Shopping

I LOVE this time of year. Its the only time of year I get to go shopping and buy stuff and not get in trouble for it. I had this last minute idea about 3 weeks ago, to try to get everyone on my Christmas list done, before the baby comes. I figure this would make life so much easier in the long run. Well, I've done just that. I am about 90-95% done with all my shopping. I love to Christmas shop and find things that I think others are going to enjoy. As far as Adriana goes, you may remember me talking about this last year, but we only get her 3 gifts. We set aside a budget for her, and with that money we will get her 3 gifts. The reason we give her only 3 gifts is mainly because, that is how many gift baby Jesus was given on Christmas. Plus, she gets a lot from other friends and family. My sister-in-law, Kara, came up with the idea last year to make the 3 gifts specific. One gift would be educational, one spiritual and the other a fun toy. I am really pleased with what we got her this year for all her gifts, I think she is going to LOVE them. Anyway, now that I have all my gifts bought, I'm dying to wrap them (another favorite for me) but I'm going to wait, until closer to Christmas. I don't want all my Christmas fun to be zapped up in November.
I hope everyone is ready for Thanksgiving. I can't believe it is a week from this Thursday! I love the holiday season, just think it goes by too soon.
I called my doctor today and tried to talk her into inducing me either today or tomorrow, but no such luck. She earliest she can do anything is this Saturday. I'm hoping and praying that he comes before then. Ryan's family is making the long journey from Alabama to spend Thanksgiving with us and see the baby. We are going to have a fun filled, busy next couple of weeks, but are looking forward to it!
Hope all is well with everyone and that they had a great weekend.

October Fun

Here are some random pictures of Adriana during the month of October. Everyday she is changing more and more and is becoming more aware of things that are going on around her. Her new thing is Barney. I swore to myself that I would NEVER get into Barney with her, but somehow she knew who he was and about 4 videos later, here we are. I kept finding Barney videos at Goodwill so I kept buying them for her. Its not that he's a bad dinosaur, just an annoying one. She LOVES him and the whole gang and has really learned a lot from the videos. Anyway, we were out garage sailing one day and found a Baby Bop outfit for $2. For that price, I thought it was worth getting it for her, so she can play dress up. She LOVES wearing it, especially while she is watching the videos. Here are pictures in her outfit.

Of course, she is also really big into the whole girly thing too. She loves wearing her Cinderella dress and being all dolled up. I found this outfit after Halloween for her to wear around the house and play dress up in. Its amazing how much fun a $5 outfit will buy.

Also, this picture is one that was taken at my MOPS meeting in October. We painted pumpkins and Adriana had a blast! She was so proud of her pumpkin, but I forgot my camera, so I stole this one off our MOPS website (Sorry Hilary!). She still talks about when we did this, so I know it meant a lot to her.

Well, that is about all I can do for now. I will try to post something else tomorrow. Hope everyone is doing good.

Bummed Out

Sorry to leave you guys hanging for a few days. It is really uncomfortable for me to be sitting at the computer, so I limit my time to about 2-5 minutes a day on here, not enough time to blog. I did want to update everyone though. I went to the doctor today, thinking that my due date was this coming Saturday, but low and behold, I was WRONG all this time! My due date isn't until the 19th, which is only 5 days later, but its 5 DAYS LATER! When you are this miserable, everyday seems to be worse than the last. She pretty much told me that since I was overdue with Adriana, that I will probably be overdue with this one (even though every pregnancy is different and I'm not going based solely on this information). She told me that she would not induce before Thanksgiving but that she would the Friday after, if he still hasn't come yet. (I doubt I will go that far past my due date, 8 days late, but still, not the best news!)
I will try to write about something else besides waiting around everyday hoping and praying that today is the day. I have some pictures and stories I would like to post, but like I said, its hard for me to sit here too long, so maybe tomorrow, I can post something little.
Thank you to all who have asked about us and are praying for us. We will keep you posted.

The Waiting Game

I am due a week from today, and we sit here and wait. I woke up last night with contractions, waiting and counting them, but still not sure if they were the real thing. I woke Ryan up and told him it might be time and went to call my parents, so they could come and watch Adriana, but the more I was up and moving around, they went away. So we wait....

While we wait, I wanted to post some pictures of activities that we did while we didn't have the internet, and get those pictures posted.

About early/mid-October we went to a little town, Republic to a fall festival. Fall is my favorite season, by far, and so I LOVE going to town festivals. We met up with my parents there and had a good time, just walking around and looking at all the booths with all the "homemade" items people had for sale. It was a great, crisp fall day and we really enjoyed ourselves. We forgot our camera that day, but did buy some things from the booths. Here's what we bought that day.

Name Plate for Adriana's Door to her room

Paxton's name plate for his door to his room

The next weekend, we (my parents included) decided to make the trek down to Mt. Vernon to the bigger fall festival around here. There was so much more to do and see there. The food was good and again, they had great booths with a lot of homemade items. We also took Adriana on a carriage ride, which she LOVED! We had a great time and really got to get out there and enjoy the fall season.

Our Carriage Ride

Getting ready to leave for the carriage ride.

The people who took us on the ride, were

so sweet.

Adriana getting her face painted. She did this

at both festivals.

Not the best face paint job, but what do you

expect for a $1?

Got these little pumpkins that are made out of

stumps of wood. I thought they were so cute

and original.

We will keep you posted on any news as it comes. Don't get too anxious, Adriana was 5 days late. Hope everyone is having a great weekend! We are having great weather here, its in the upper 70's, almost hot!

Getting Anxious

Well due date is one week from tomorrow. It is getting close! You have 9 months to prepare mentally, for a child, but it seems to hit you all at once when your due date is all of a sudden here! Me and Ryan, both are getting anxious about having two kids around. Its funny, with the first one, you really don't know what to expect. You can have a pretty good idea, but until you are up with colds, feedings, diaper changes and just plain fussiness, you really don't know what you are heading into as a new parent. Well, with the second, you know whats coming. I often wonder if he's going to be a fussy baby or a happy baby. Adriana was a good baby and was sleeping through the nights at around 6 weeks old. I don't think I'll be that lucky twice, but you never know. Its sad to us to think of Adriana not being the only child. She gets all our attention, all our love, all our time and gets spoiled with little things all the time. Its sad that now, she is going to have to share that with someone else. Its sad to us that we may not remember this time very well with it just being her. Its the end of a chapter for us and its a scary one that we are about to start. I know our hearts will be overflowing with the love for 2 kids, but again, its kind of the fear of the unknown. We have been a good team, the 3 of us, but I know Paxton is going to bring so much to our little family and we are anxious to start the next phase in our lives.

New Belly Shots

I feel bad, I'm due in 9 days and have only had 2 "belly" shots. With Adriana I had 4, not very many, but still, I am bound and determined to have a lot of pictures for Paxton too. Anyway, I always think of this when I'm in my PJ's or by myself, well today, I was still by myself, but at least I put on my thinking cap and thought about putting the camera on timer mode. Don't mind my messy house in the background, the nesting phase has yet to kick in. I'm really don't feel like cleaning after unpacking and decorating our house. Plus, its getting harder and harder for me to get around. Well, anyway, here are pictures of my belly. This shirt isn't the most flattering, I tend to look like Barney (which would make Adriana very happy) but still nothing like feeling like a big purple dinosaur when your due any day.

Adriana giving Paxton a kiss

Paxton's Room

I am under strict orders from my best friend, Susan, to have pictures posted of the baby's room, by tonight. I just finished it minutes ago and wanted to get pictures of it before it got too messy. I still can't find my mattress pad and sheets to go on the crib, but other than that, I think we are ready for him. The theme of his room is "Monkey Around". I need to give a special thanks to my mom who sewed pretty much everything in the room, except the curtains. She also painted the room for us too. Thank you mom for all your hard work and time you invested in his room.

Me and my mom came up with the

idea to have a monkey hanging off

a branch over his changing table.

The blanket above the bed was our

inspiration for the room.

A toy box from when I was growing up,

my mom made the cushion for it.

I made these little picture frames. I liked how

they turned out and they were super cheap to

make.

A Breakfast Funny

This morning I made me and Adriana some muffins for breakfast. I was cooling Adriana's off, right after it came out of the oven. I was holding the hot muffin and blew on it and it blew all the heat out and hurt my hand pretty bad. My instinct was to drop it to the plate and say "hot mama!". I didn't think anything of it, but when I handed the warm muffin over to Adriana, she touched it and said "hot Ana" (Ana is her nickname at school). It was so funny! Of course, she saw me laughing at that and went through the name list, "hot daddy", "hot Zoe", "hot mommy" and so on. I just thought it was so clever of her to pick up what I said and "personalize" it.

Halloween Night '09

Well, we had a great weekend. It was so nice and relaxing. Friday night me and Ryan had a rare "date night" and went down to Branson. We had a nice dinner and tried to do some Christmas shopping, but didn't have too much luck. Nevertheless, it was nice to be out on our own. Adriana spent the night at my parents house, which was nice, because we got to sleep in until about 9:30am, which isn't all that late, but about 2 hours later than we normally get to sleep till. We had a child free day on Saturday too. Mom and Dad kept Adriana all day and let her take her nap over at their house so we could get some things done around our house. They brought her out to our house that evening with some pizza's. We ate and then got Adriana all dressed up in her Cinderella outfit. She had such a great time! My plan was for her to get dressed up and hand out stuff to kids that came to our door. She doesn't know any different and she doesn't need all that candy. However, Ryan felt bad that she didn't get to go trick or treating, so after we handed candy out for a little while, we took her around to a few houses in the neighborhood and she got to trick or treat. She had a BLAST! However, she wanted to come home after going to about 10 houses. She got the best of both worlds that way.

We had a great time and Adriana LOVED to dress up. She had a great time seeing all the kids in their costumes and handing them treats. Here are pictures from that night.

Our little Cinderella

Loving being all dressed up!

Loving on a monkey that is for baby brothers room

Trick or treating

Her Candy stash

Our little family

No, I didn't intentionally dress

as a huge pumkin.