7 Months Old and a Play Date with Cousin Brie

I cannot believe that today my baby is 7 months old. Man, time is flying by! Today, Cadence and I spent her 7 month birthday playing with cousin Brie. My brother, Mark had to go into the office for a couple of hours today and needed someone to watch her so of course Cadence and I said "yes". I was a little nervous because I have never kept them both by myself, but gosh it was so much fun. I thought it was going to be a rough afternoon when I heard Cadence wake up from her nap, I ran up there to get her, Brie started screaming downstairs, Brie's scream scared Cady and she started screaming. I just laughed and in one minute they were both okay. They spent a good 45 min to an hour sitting on the floor playing together. Brie is now super mobile and crawling everywhere. Cady just sits in one spot and laughs as Brie scoots around. They were great and we had a good day together. While they were playing, I went through some of my videos on our camera and watched the video of when Cadence was born. It made me cry of course. Seriously, she is growing so fast! Here are some pics of the two cousins playing together today.

7 month old baby girl

Sweet 9 1/2 month old Brie

Loving each other on the couch. Sleepy, sleepy!

Sweet cousins!

And they started playing. They didn't sleep. :)

Summer Is Here!

I LOVE summer. However, I am not a big fan of the heat, unless I am surrounded by a lot of water (i.e. pool, lake or ocean). We have been on a few vacations already. We've been to Charleston for my buddy, Amy Crook's wedding, camping (without the baby), and to the lake (with the babe and the Rucker fam). Cady was such a trooper on each vacation-she loves to travel already. :) She will be 7 months old tomorrow and is growing like a champ. Every day I am seeing more of her awesome personality coming out-I do believe she is going to be funny. :) She cracks me up so much and is just such an easy going baby. Here are some pics from some of our vacations.

Me and Cadence with the Bride, Amy

Mimi and Cady on The Battery

Papa with Cady

The Ivester Family in Charleston

The Ivester Family at Clark Hill

Bathing Beauty!

So precious!

Cadence and Daddy

Cadence and Mommy

Easter 2009

What a great Easter we had! Church was AMAZING!! I never get enough of the gospel. After church we went to the Ivester's for lunch and for an Easter Egg Hunt (we ended up having three). Kaitlyn won all of them. :) After an afternoon in Powdersville we headed over to mom and dad's for Easter supper and our annual Easter Egg Hunt. We were the only kids there b/c Mark, Andrea and Brie were in Canada, and Chad and Michelle were on their way home from Kentucky. Aunt Jane joined us for supper and it was great to spend some quality time with the fam. There weren't as many people competing for the money egg this year, so that left more money for Matt and I. I'll just say that I won and ended up with the prize egg and a total of $42.00. :) Here are some pics of our little family celebrating Cady's first Easter. I have so much to be thankful for!!

Growing Baby

My sweet little girl is growing like crazy. She went for her 4 month checkup (she was 4 1/2 mo. at this visit). She is doing great, weighs 18 pd. 4 oz, measures 26 1/2 inches, is almost rolling over and we got the "go ahead" to feed her some cereal. Every day her personality seems to come out more and more and I am loving this. She is a hoot! She not only smiles with her mouth, but also with her eyes and her whole self. She is one happy baby! She is FINALLY doing better sleeping through the night. She went through a phase for about a month where she would wake up a lot and cry for her pacifier. Now, she is going to bed around 9ish and sleeping straight through until around 7:30 or 8 am. Praise Jesus! I am a new woman! :) I pray this continues. Here are some updated pics of my sweet baby!

A Great, Relaxing Weekend!

Last weekend was so much fun and so relaxing. I value my weekends so much more now that I stay at home. I know that sounds really weird since I don't "work" during the week, but let me explain. When I worked, my weekends were fun, but they also consisted of cleaning, going to the grocery store, etc. Rarely did Matthew and I just do absolutely nothing. Now, during the week I clean, go to the store, do laundry, and other chores so that my weekends can be completely filled with spending time with my husband and my daughter. I love it! I love knowing that Matt has two full days to hang with Cadence and I. I love how we can all cuddle in the bed and love on each other without having to worry about doing errands or chores. I love it!

Friday night we went over to The Ivester's to celebrate Ashley's 21st birthday. I love my in-laws and I have so much fun hanging out with them. We ate supper, played Apples to Apples and just enjoyed each other's company. Saturday, Matt and I woke up and he decided we should go to breakfast at IHOP and run out to the mall. IHOP turned out to be extremely busy so we left and went to Cracker Barrel and enjoyed a yummy brunch. After running around at the mall we came home and we all (including the pups) took a nap. When we walked into the house I noticed Gerber Daisies and a card. Mom had stopped in while we were out and left my Valentine's gift from my daddy. He was my first Valentine and he always gives me a Valentine present. I love that tradition. They also left a little precious outfit for Cadence. I love my thoughtful parents! Matt is now Cady's valentine and he had a sweet card for her. She is going to grow up knowing how she should be treated and loved. Her daddy is a great example of that, just like my daddy has always been for me.

For supper Matt and I had reservations at Calhoun Corners in Clemson. We went there the night Matt proposed (which was around Valentine's Day). We always try to go there for VDay and I'm so glad we got to go again this year. We dropped Cady off at The Ivester's and headed off to supper. I really enjoyed this time together with my husband. We had great conversation and just enjoyed each other's company. After supper we went to downtown Clemson and had ice cream at Spill The Beans. YUM! Vanilla icecream with cake batter is our new favorite treat. :) My Valentine's Day was wonderful! Matt had given me 2 dozen pink roses (I love his attention to detail...Pink is my favorite color) on Thursday, so I have been able to enjoy my flowers for a long time. I have the best Valentine ever!

Sunday, we went to church and came back home and RELAXED. We all cuddled in our Bonus Room and watched seasons of Friday Night Lights (our favorite show). We started watching this show a couple of years ago but never saw the first few. So, we relaxed and vegged out while watching FNL. What a great day! I am so thankful for our relaxing weekends. What a blessing!

2 mo. checkup and Thankfulness!

Poor little Cadence. Today she went for her 2 month checkup and had her shots. I have been dreading this visit since the appointment was made. I just knew I would cry and I was right. I managed to hold it together until the nurses left the room, but after that I just grabbed my sweet girl and cried with her.

We take her to Parkside Pediatrics and we absolutely love them. They are such strong believers and they really do care about their patients. The nurses told us how it would go down: two nurses would come in, give her an oral immunization, and then both nurses would give her 2 shots each at the same time. I'm glad they do it this way so she wouldn't have to suffer for long. Bless her heart. She was all smiles and happy, not having a clue what was to come. But boy after they gave her those shots (which happened very quickly, thankfully) she screamed and cried like I have never heard her. The nurse quickly handed her to me and I just held her and loved on her. Like I said, I didn't cry until after the nurses walked out. All day today I have loved on her and cuddled her. She is needy like her mom when she doesn't feel well. :) She's pretty much slept all day and cried here and there. Poor baby.

I love my little girl SO much and to see her in pain just broke my heart. Now that I am a mommy, I tend so see things with a new pair of eyes. It really has made me see the love of God for his children in a new light. The love I have for Cadence, I cannot describe. I can't imagine how much God loves her! I have to remind myself that she is His first and that she is an awesome gift that He has given me to raise and to love. I pray every day for her salvation and for her heart. I pray she has a tender heart and a gentle spirit. I pray that she loves people and has a desire to see others come to the Lord. I pray that she loves herself and that she won't settle. I pray for her husband and for his heart. I pray for so many things for her.

Something else...I can't say enough how thankful I am for being able to be a stay at home mommy. God is so good and has provided in ways that I can't even explain. Ever since I was a little girl I have wanted to be a stay at home mommy. When Matt and I were dating we discussed our dreams for our future and me staying home was definitely something we discussed a lot. Without going into great detail and writing a novel (which I definitely could write a lot about God's faithfulness and goodness), I will say that God has blown me away! He has given us everything that we need, when we need it and right when we need it. Matthew and I prayed for a specific salary (something we came up with after crunching numbers-trying to figure out how I could stay at home). We had faith God would provide, but just didn't see how it was going to happen. Sure enough, Matt called me one day from work and told me that he had talked to his boss and his boss offered him a raise-TO THE DIME-of what we had calculated for us to need in order for me to stay at home. We were floored! God blew us away! He has blessed us so much and we are so thankful. I am truly living my dream. I serve a God who is gracious and faithful and amazing...and the list goes on. I am married to an amazing man who loves God and who loves me and who is an amazing daddy. I have a daughter who is healthy, beautiful and precious. I get to stay at home with her and love her. I have a phenomenal family and phenomenal in-laws. I have great friends. I have a church that is wonderful and a pastor who is a great teacher and leader and is unashamed of the gospel. God is good and I am thankful! I love my life!

So this post was a tad random and covered various topics. I apologize for the "off the wallness!" haha. I'm just writing what is on my heart and what comes to mind...a little spastic, but hey-I'm a little spastic. :)

Labor and Delivery and 3rd Anniversary

It is December 30, 2008 (our 3rd wedding anniversary) and I am just now getting around to telling my story of Labor and Delivery (October 28, 2008). My daughter is now 2 months old and I can't believe it's taken me this long to tell about my experience. Oh well, I'm doing good just getting on the computer, I think. :) haha. Though it isn't as fresh on my mind as it would have been a couple of months ago, I do remember great details about my labor and delivery. It was something I could never prepare for, something I enjoyed greatly, something that hurt like crap, and something I will never forget!! My mom did a great job of documenting everything via journaling, and I am very thankful to have that to refer back to.

On October 27, Matt and I headed to the hospital to be induced (we arrived there about 5:30 am). We did not sleep at all the night before. It was like Christmas Eve times 1,000!! To know that I would wake up to go have a baby really kept us both wide awake with excitement and crazy nerves. So, we woke up and headed out bright and early to have us a baby. On the way there Matt managed to spill his cup of cereal and milk all over the car (we had to pull over and clean it up) and later spill is dr. pepper. Bless his heart! haha. When we finally got to the hospital, we had to wait about 20 minutes or so until we saw someone to take us back to the insurance lady to discuss everything. As we waited we had some "winners" in the room waiting to be induced. Actually, it was one girl and about 35 of her annoying, loud family members. How do we always get stuck with the obnoxious people?! Oh well-we didn't let it ruin our excitement. :)

After we finally met with the insurance woman, we were taken back to our room (Delivery Room 4). Mom met us there about 7:15 am and my Pitocin was started at 7:30. I was extremely excited to see my buddy, Ashley Adams when her shift started b/c I knew she'd take great care of us. The majority of that morning consisted of us watching Saved By The Bell, Fresh Prince of Bellaire and Home Improvement. The Ivester's arrived around 8 am and joined the party. At one point the Anesthesiologist came in and asked what my "dilutation" was. I was extremely confused and luckily Matt spoke up and said, "They haven't checked yet." After he walked out of the room I looked at Matt and said, "I didn't know what he was talking about. I was about to tell him that I was dealing just fine!" I'm glad Matt is smarter than I am and realized that "dilutation" had to do with how far dilated I was, not how I was dealing with the pain haha. My sweet friend nurse, Ashley came in and out to check on me and I can't brag on her enough. Not only did she ease my anxiety, pain and take good care of me-she also told me to put my nose ring back in that the nurse on the previous shift and told me to take out. God love her! :)

About noon my daddy showed up and I was happy. When he arrived I was only 1 cm dilated. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Things continued to progress slowly throughout the rest of the afternoon. I had contractions that were fairly strong, but little did I know how bad they would get. About 3:30 pm Dr. Gower (the same doctor who delivered me...LOVE HIM!) came in and stopped my Pitocin (after doing the "Gower Maneuver"...very painful I must say haha). I was only 2 cm dilated and not progressing any. He didn't want me to labor any longer since I wasn't progressing any, so he decided to stop it all and let me rest, eat a good supper, and sleep well. He said we'd start the Pitocin first thing the next morning. I was soooo disappointed. I cried and cried and cried because I was exhausted, in pain, and I wanted to meet my baby girl. My sweet husband handled me so well. I cannot give him enough credit. He crawled into the bed with me and rubbed my back (which was aching b/c I had back labor), he rubbed my hair, told me it'd be okay, etc. Words cannot give justice to how AMAZING he was to me throughout everything. Not to mention, he helped me go to the bathroom about every 20 minutes b/c I was all hooked up to IV's. That afternoon Aunt Jane, Mark, Andrea, Brie, Chad, Adger, Lauren and Andrew came to visit and lifted my spirits. Brie was ready to meet her cousin b/c she was all decked out in pink and brown! :) That night daddy brought us Firehouse to eat and it was the best meal I had ever eaten. I downed Sprite b/c I knew I wouldn't be able to have it for awhile. That night I slept great due to an ambien, some cartons of milk and an egg crate that Ashley had ordered for me. :)

The nurse woke us up about 5:30 am on Tuesday, October 28 so that I could shower and be all fresh to meet my little girl. Dr. Gower came in to break my water at 6:30 am. Shortly after my water was broken, the contractions came-hard and painful!! I have never experienced pain like that before (little did I know more pain was to come after the birth). I was in horrible pain for about an hour and finally at 7:30 am I got my epideral. Thank you, Jesus for epidurals! Thankfully, Ashley switched with another nurse so that she could be my nurse again. She was amazing once again! At 7:45 am. Dr. Gower checked me and I was 100% effaced and 4 cm dilated. Yay! At 10:10 am Matt went to get our parentals to tell them to come see me before I slept some. It wasn't a total lie...we wanted to get them in there to tell them that I was 9 cm dilated and went from 4 to 9 cm in 1 1/2 hours. Holy Cow! Thanks, Dr. Gower for breaking my water!! Ashley had checked me when I was 9 cm and later told me that I was technically 10 but she wanted me to rest some before I pushed. I'm glad she did! A little bit after 11 am I began pushing some with Ashley (Dr. Gower had left for the day and my new doctor, Dr. Price was doing a C-Section). I pushed through, maybe 6 contractions with Ash and it was so easy. I couldn't feel a thing. Honestly, I didn't even know I was pushing hard except for the fact that I was straining my face haha. Man, what a good epidural! Finally, Dr. Price came in and it was so surreal. To see all the "accessories" set up for the birth, to have nurses come in and to see Dr. Price come was crazy. I knew I was about to have a baby. I did not know what to expect, but I was ready. Dr. Price was amazing! Everything was set up and he told me to push. And push I did. I pushed one time and Cadence came out. Like I said earlier, I didn't even feel anything so I had no clue she was out. Dr. Price said, "SLOW DOWN! Stop!" b/c Cady came shooting out haha. It makes me laugh to think about it b/c I really had NO clue. It was amazing! Sweet Cadence was born (with strong lungs) at 12:25 pm weighing 8 pds, 7 oz and measuring 20 in.....SO BEAUTIFUL!!

Honestly, words can't descibe what an experience it was. I never want to forget it! Everyone was so amazing!! And seeing my daughter for the first time: WOW! My favorite moment was when they layed her on my chest and I could hear/feel her breathe. It brings tears to my eyes just writing this! In that moment I knew I was created to be a mommy. I loved this little girl more than I could have ever imagined! Even though I had no clue what to do with her, but to love her, I knew my life had changed forever in an amazing way. I'm so thankful to have such a healthy, precious, beautiful baby girl! Thank you, Jesus!

My recovery: ummm painful! After Cady was born the doctor spent about 45 min "fixing" me up. haha. Ashley said that he did such a great job that I will probably be better "down there" than I was when God created me haha. Sidenote: Ashley brought me a whole box of Sprite to down b/c I had been craving Sprite for the past day or so. (Sprite made it all better). I won't go into great detail about how bad it was, but let's just say that it is two months later and I am still healing and in pain. The time in the hospital was so difficult due to my pain. Once the epidural wore off I was in shock at how much pain I was actually in. Again, I can't brag enough about my husband and how he took care of me and handled me. He did everything for me! I am also blown away at how great the nurses and doctors took care of us. I love Greenville Memorial! Our stay was great. We finally got to leave the Hospital on Thursday. Mom and Brenda were there to help us pack up and believe me-we had SO much stuff. We pretty much had a caravan follow us out of the hospital due to all of our loot.

Coming home was great! Matt and I walked in with Cadence and introduced her to the puppies. We spent the afternoon just getting to know her and got her acquainted with the house and the dogs. That night our parents came over and brought us supper. Those first 2 weeks were the hardest weeks of my life....emotionally, physically, everything! Between my crazy hormones, not producing milk and Cadence not breastfeeding and my body being in so much pain, I was a wreck. But thank the good Lord for Matt and our families b/c they really stepped in and took care of us!

Now, it's 2 months later and I am loving life. I LOVE being a mommy and I love my daughter more than I ever could have imagined. She is growing like a weed and her personality comes out more and more every day. I am amazed at how we have fallen into the roles of parenthood. God has blessed us beyond words and I am so thankful. That brings me to today: me and Matt's 3rd anniversary. 3 yrs ago I would never have been able to imagine that I would be a stay at home mommy today. It was always my dream, but now that I am living it, it blows me away at how God has blessed us! God has given me a husband who loves me, takes care of me, and who is my best friend. I fall more in love with him every day and seeing him be a daddy to Cadence makes me love him in ways I can't explain. I look forward to many more years of loving my husband and experiencing life with him. I love you, Matthew!!