Quiet Morning

Good Morning!! It has been a LONG week. Work wise I'm doing well. Its a fast paced environment so I get home exhausted. Its good to be back doing something though. I'm finding it difficult to getting used to the juggling again. I know that this will come with time, but I hate forgetting things and not having dinner at least prepped at night. Next week I'm really going to focus on that.

The Man and Gabbie are still sleeping and I am enjoying the quiet for a change. I can truly say that I haven't had much quiet time lately and its something that I enjoy. No TV, no screaming baby, no constant talking, no noise. Just the hum of the laptop and occasionally the refrigerator.

Last Sunday we took a long walk around the farm and I snapped a couple pictures. Gabbie had cabin fever BAD!!! She had been cooped up inside for too long. So we bundled her up, put her in the stroller, and took a nice long walk.





We also harvested our honey this week. Its was cool to finally see a result of all our work. Thank the Lord for our mentors! We wouldn't have been able to do it without them. We got around 25 lbs of honey and its a good quality too! its about 16.5% water and it tastes wonderful. As you can tell its got a gorgeous dark amber color which is indicative of poplar trees. The Man has a renewed interest in beekeeping now and we both want to try and expand next season. Only time will tell.




I am currently waging war inside my home. For those of you that know me personally, you know I am scared of one thing in this world...mice. Well the other day I went to open a lower cabinet and one of those nasty things was right there!! Of course I started screaming bloody murder!!! I know I live in the country and I know that it is "inevitable" but I will not tolerate them in my house. I can't imagine how the hell it got in to begin with. I want to call out an exterminator but I know that would be beyond our price range! As we speak my wonderful silent morning has been invaded with tiny chewing and scurrying sounds!!! ITS BACK!!!! I think I'm going to call a local pest company and see what they charge. I know that they're in the attic as well so The Man and Poppa may have some work to do VERY soon. God this is driving me CRAZY!!!

Today we are planning on taking Gabbie to the pumpkin patch. This was an annual tradition when Mabel and I were small. Mother and Poppa took us every year. It is something that I want to start with my children as well. Mother and I are going to do a bit of grocery shopping as well. She needs food and snacks for Gabbie during the week so we are going to hook her up. I will definitely be taking pictures so you will be seeing our day!

I need to get some projects done. My niece Emily will be here any day now and I have to get her present done. The Man is contemplating driving to NC when she is born. Gabbie and I can't go with but I think he needs to. I will just have to wait to see her beautiful face :( So I need to get that done soon that way when we get the call he can take it with. I've start on my Christmas presents and need to get them done too. I can't wait to see what everyone else I making!! It should be interesting!!

The Man is officially done cutting wood!!! YIPPY!!! We have about 2 years worth in the barn! I'm so happy that this big job is done! Its reassuring to know that we will heat this winter! LOL!! He also called and got the propane tank filled just to be on the safe side. Its like an insurance policy for us. Now he can move on to some smaller projects he's been wanting to do. He hung up Gabbie's swing in the back yard. Now we can go out and swing anytime we want!! Gabbie is happy about this!! He built a fire pit out of stone in the back yard. Now we have a place for Thanksgiving, which is fast approaching! His number one project now is to rid the house of MICE!!!!

I'm still hearing our little friend so I think its time to wake him up and at least have him scare the damn thing out of the house! Lord give me strength! I'm too scared to open the cabinet and scare it myself! Pathetic I know! But everyone has a fear, right?! I'm sure I'm not the only one that's scared of mice, am I? I will be back soon, hopefully tomorrow. If not then next weekend, unless I can wake up early one day during the week. Until then you behave and have a GREAT weekend!!

What A Week!!!

I'm exhausted!!! This has been one hell of a week. Work has been crazy!!! So busy!! They have assured me that its usually not like that but wow!!! I can't breath during the day! So that's been stressful. Tuesday I picked Gabbie from mothers and she was kinda cranky. We got home and she wouldn't eat her dinner. I put her down and picked her up 5 minutes later and she was burning up!!! Weird!! Her temp was 100.9! I gave her Tylenol and figured it was another round of teething kicking in. I WAS SO WRONG!!! The next 2 days her fever never broke, she stopped eating, diarrhea, and vomiting. I took her to the doc Thursday morning. No ear infection, no strep, so the doc tested for a UTI. We went to the hospital for some blood work and a antibiotic shot. I knew then that there was a problem. The nurses had to PULL the blood out of her with a syringe!!! After we got all the way home the docs office called to see if she had taken an liquids, which she did not. After about an hour the doc personally called and told me she was admitting her. The blood work came back and her white blood cell counts were through the roof and she was badly dehydrated.

Talk about an emotional wreck! She was a trooper though. She didn't start drinking anything until late Friday afternoon so we had to spend a second night. We finally got out yesterday afternoon when her blood cell count was back to normal. She's now at home and back to herself. We are still dealing with diarrhea but I pray that will soon pass. So yeah... I need a vacation now!!! OR a good stiff drink!! I never want to go through that again. Now I'm not an overly dramatic mom; I know that shots aren't going to kill her but that little girl got prodded and poked so much that when a nurse came in the room she started crying!!! They didn't even have to touch her!! I felt so bad for her! She couldn't play much and she couldn't get down and crawl because of the IV. It was bad! I hope we never have to go through that again. Through it all she still kept up good spirits which totally amazed me. I think we saw her true personality and I hope she stays that way.





She's sleeping right now so I get a bit of a break. I've got my chocolate raspberry creamer and silence for a bit. The Man is at church, we decided it wasn't a good idea for Gabbie to be out and about just yet, so I'm going to enjoy myself for a bit. Don't know what we are going to do today. We were supposed to extract honey on Friday so we may be doing that today. Our mentors will call when they are done with theirs so they can help us. I will keep you posted on that!! Its gonna be AWESOME!!! I'll stop here and use my time wisely. Until next time!

Good Morning

Top O' the Morning to you!!! Ok so I'm not exactly that chipper at the moment but I'm feeling a bit ambitious so maybe I will be after I drink a cup o'coffee. Today starts my first full day of work in just over 3 months. For some reason I'm scared. Not necessarily of work, that's the easy part, but of juggling home, husband, and Gabbie. I know that everything will fall into a rhythm but right now its kinda scary. I am ready though and I know its in every one's best interest. Gabbie has gotten even more clingy than before with both The Man and I so she will be heading to her Grandma's everyday now. This will help with all that and get her on a schedule for when The Man goes back to work, which will hopefully happen soon. The Man will then have the free time to get some things done around the farm that he's been wanting to tackle.

I didn't get to make Gabbie's onesie for the big game because this fit her. Well it sorta fit her! But still.... isn't that much more fabulous than a onesie?!


Yesterday I went into work for a half day. Its going to be difficult learning all the legal language but I'm sure in a couple of weeks it will be second nature. In theory the job is pretty easy but when you add on learning the lingo it takes a bit more. Today is jam packed!! I will be handleing all of the real estate and have 2 closings today!! YIKES!!! Thank the Lord that her current assistant is still with us so she can show me how things work. I learned yesterday that I better catch on quick because I only have like 2.5 weeks before her current assistant is gone!! Yep, the stress is on! Like it ever left HA! It just switched forms.

Well I guess I should get ready for the day. Until next time!

Farm Animals, Tests, and a Break

Sorry I haven't posted lately. I don't really have a good reason, just haven't had much time to myself. Miss Gabbie is sleeping now so I have a moment to fill you in on the past week. Last weekend we went with Mother and Step-Daddy to the State Fair. We had a blast!! It was fun watching Gabbie experience new things. We witnessed 2 milestones; sharing food and a FEAR of all farm animals!! Yep, all of them, pigs, horses, cows, chickens, rabbits...all of them!! It all started with sheep! I thought she would be fine with them considering we have two rather large dogs. Not on your life!!! She let out a blood curdling scream that I had NEVER heard before!!! Needless to say we heard the same scream all day when we moved from livestock barn to livestock barn. The sharing of food was so cute and it made up for her newly discovered fear. She was gnawing on a pizza crust and offered some to her daddy. It was too cute! Then she offered some to her grandma. Now anything that she has in her mouth, food or otherwise, gets offered! She also had her first ride with Mother. They rode the carousel and it was so fun watching her. She really liked it!





The Man is studying for the Praxis again. He takes it on Saturday and I pray that he passes. We heard yesterday from a teacher that his former position will be open again next school year and the the principle wants him back ASAP; word is that there is a teacher going on maternity leave after Christmas. I pray that he can pass so he can get back to teaching. I know that not working has taken its toll on him. I'd be willing to bet that he is mildly depressed over all of this and I know that passing will help, even if he can't teach again til next year. I can't say I don't blame him. We are in 2 different situations when it comes to being unemployed. I was fired from a job that I wasn't passionate about so it wasn't a blow to me, just inconvenient. The Man, however, couldn't teach and that is his passion. He was meant to be a teacher and he is an amazing teacher. So for someone to say you can't do what you love and what you are called to do is extremely difficult. That combined with that whole "I am Man I must provide" mentality makes for an upset husband. I try to show him the bright side but he's one of those "half empty" people. Its an ongoing battle between us; some days he wins, some days I win. Either way I know that we will look back at this time, some day in the distant future, and be thankful for it. That is if I don't kill him first ;) LOL, just a joke!! I promise!

Mother is taking Gabbie over night so I will have some ME time!!! I've got a lot of things to get done but I'm contemplating spending my time doing fun things instead of the alternative. I know The Man will be studying the majority of the time so I should use my time wisely but I love the ideas of just sitting down with a good movie and crocheting. I'll weigh the odds.

Other than that there isn't much else going on. We are hanging in there and except for the obvious, are doing as well as we can. I will definitely post tomorrow morning since I will have it all to myself and I'll let you know what I did with my free time. Until then!!

Recovering

We had an amazing weekend! Filled with the typical, good food, family, guns, and of course, my beautiful daughter. All the women folk in our family took a stab at shooting skeet and let me tell you, it was fun!! Every one of us hit the clay at least once and the shot gun we were using wasn't made for women either. It was a blast. I was able to unload some built up stress by unloading several hundred rounds of hand gun ammo. Poppa, Step-Daddy, Mabel, and I had a great time with the hand guns. It was fun spending that kind of time with our fathers! Poppa is teaching all of us the details and concepts of using a hand gun for self protection. Regardless it was a blast and now, next time he is down, Poppa will be teaching several other family members the ropes as well.

Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures so there is nothing to post but I'm sure you can use your imaginations! The Man, his father, and Poppa also slipt a TON of fire wood. We will definitely NOT be cold this winter. I'm very thankful for The Man's father and Poppa for helping him. It would have taken The Man way too long to get all that work done himself, even though I know we would have done it.

I'm working on an afghan for Emily, my niece. The Man decided that he didn't want me to do the typical quilt for her. I found a very cute pattern of something I had never tried before and so far its working out great. The pattern isn't as big as I'd like so I'm going to adjust it a bit to make it larger. I'll let you take a peek when I'm finished.

Not much else to report. Gabbie is miserable with her teeth. She's up all night long, which means that I am as well. I'm giving her tylenol but its not helping her sleep much. I'm going to try the teething tabs, several of my mommie friends have recommended them. Hopefully it will work and she can get some sleep in. Maybe I can as well ;)

I guess I will leave you with that. Until next time!

Milestones

It has been a busy week here. Miss Gabbie decided to crawl and is now into everything. To top it off, Friday evening she stuck my finger in her mouth and, to my surprise, I felt a tooth!! I can't see it yet but I can feel it and it has broken through the gum. Of course in turn she's a bit fussy. She's ok during the day when her attention can be diverted but the past couple of nights have been rough. I haven't slept much!! I feel so helpless when I know she's hurting. Its horrible but its something I better get used to. So if any of you mom's have any helpful hints on making teething as pleasant as possible, please feel free to pass them on.

Friday Gabbie and I spent the day with my Mother and Grandmother. We did a bit of shopping and had a blast!! I wish I could have bought some things but I know exactly what I want when we have some money rolling in!! We went to Old Time Pottery and let me tell you... I could have spent a fortune!! I love all the fall stuff that they have!! The Man got some down time while we were gone to study for his test coming up in September. In turn, I got "me" time yesterday. The Man is helping a good friend with some home maintenance projects and Gabbie went to her grandma's. I was going to work on my sewing but I found this project while surfing and just had to make one.

The one on her blog is a bit fru fru for me (I'm not much of a flower person)so I had to find something else to stitch. I came up with this...




I took the angled view so that you can see the different colors in the tree, it's not solid orange! The Man even liked it!!! It was pretty easy, I just drew the outline on the pegboard and dove right in. I want to make a couple more to swap out when the seasons change! It was fun too. I watched a couple good movies and it was done.

So now I still have sewing to finish but I know that I can get it done. I will be working on that today and tomorrow. I should probably get going, need to get a bit of cleaning done since I didn't yesterday. Until next time!!

A Sense of Accomplishment

Good Morning! Don't know why but I feel good today. The past couple of days have been full of accomplishment. Yesterday I bit the bullet and went to the health department to get Gabriella and I on WIC. Not my finest hour but the benefits will help us immensely. It was funny. You always hear horror stories about how the staff are rude and stuff. I guess they realized that I wasn't the average joe because no one was rude to me. The head nurse who filed the paperwork for us was extremely helpful. I had lots of questions and I guess it was obvious that I had no clue what I was doing. The nurse helped a lot. We talked about the colorful people she encounters on a daily basis and I confessed that I never thought I'd be in my current position. She assured me that's what these programs were there for; people in my situation that need a bit of help. It felt much better after talking with her and the other staff. They answered all my questions and told me exactly what to do when I got to the grocery store. I commented on the large amount of food that we can get and the woman replied "That's where your tax dollars go, use them." Very true!!! So I came home with my head a bit higher. I know that we won't have to spend too much at the grocery store now although coffee and creamer are not on the program.....darn!!!!

Another accomplishment was Tuesday when I took this 27 pounds of peaches.....

And turned it into this.....

6 pints of spiced peach butter and 16 half pints of peach preserves, minus the ones we ate. Yep....accomplishment!! So my totals for the season thus far are 16 half pints and 15 pints of sweet pickle relish, 13 half pints of blueberry jelly, 1 quart of blueberry juice(for more jelly), at least 10 quart bags of tomatoes, 30 quart bags of sweet corn, 42 quart bags of Dixie lee peas and its not even apple season yet!!Not bad at all! And let me say that the peach butter is out of this world!! Can't wait to eat that this winter. Next on my list is freezing butternut squash for Miss Gabbie, applesauce, and of course, apple butter!!! Thank God that we have a local apple orchard where I can buy all in bulk!

I wonder what I'll accomplish today?! More yard work I think. Mother wants The Man and I to help her mulch her house now. So I think we will be packing up Gabbie and heading to her house for the day. It will be nice to get out of the house, something I don't do very much anymore. I think tomorrow I'm going to try and wrap up these sewing projects. My in laws are coming in next weekend and I have to have a BUNCH of stuff done by then. I'm just about finished with the purses for my sister and cousin-in-law. Then I have a couple little things for them to use up the rest of their fabric. Gonna do some zippered make-up bags and little things like that. Then I have several projects for my niece, Emily. Although I better just focus on the main one and then move on after that. I'm getting carried away!!! I want to make her all the things I wanted to make for Gabbie when I was pregnant!!! I just couldn't because I was pregnant!! Like I said, I'm going to start with the main one and as soon as its finished I'll move on to the next. I have a funny feeling that everything I make for Gabbie, from here on out, I'll be making another for Emily. I'm still trying to figure out if I should do all Emily's stuff in pretty, light, and feminine or bright, fun, and cheery. What do you think?

Speaking of Gabbie...look out world, she's about 2 steps away from crawling or walking which ever happens first. She's pulling her self up and all that good stuff. We have to lower her crib because I found her half standing up in it this morning! YIKES!!!! She's scooting along though and getting into a lot more than I'd like. Time to baby proof the house. God give me strength and patients with this!!! Every day she does something new, learns something new, develops something new. Its truly amazing to watch her learn and discover. She never fails to amaze me.

Well I better have one more cup o' coffe and get going. Lots to get done and then we have to go to Mother's!!! Oh, I think I hear a tractor outside. Looks like we will have hay bales when we get home. I'll make sure to show you! Until next time!

Finally Finished Something

Well I've been working on my sewing projects, among other things. I finally finished one although the rest are coming along pretty well. This was something that I thought of one night and just had to make one. As you know our bedroom is getting a makeover and the dresser needed a little color. I'm not about to paint it so I decided to make a runner for it. To the fabric pile I went and I pulled out a charm pack that Step-Mommie gave me. Our room is red with hints of turquoise and although there is no turquoise in the charm pack there is plenty of red. Plus I love the fabric. It give the room a bit more of a country feel to it.

It was the first official thing that I've quilted. All my other quilts have been tie. I also did a self-binding quilt, which was a first as well. Its not perfect but it does the trick. I don't have any before pictures but here is one of the bedroom now. I'm glad that I'm a Goodwill addict cause I wouldn't have had all this random stuff laying around. Add in some paint and a couple of nails and you get a some-what cute bedroom. I'm changing the window treatment but to what I don't know yet. Definitely something different, too much floral. On the opposite wall is the dresser and a wing back chair that desperately needs to be reupholstered or at least slip covered. The sconces are our IKEA buy. The Man was constantly rolling over and knocking the lamp off the nightstand. I told myself that sconces would be great but couldn't find any that were in our price range and not ugly. I had found some on IKEA's website but they weren't available to ship. So when we went to visit Poppa and Step-Mommie we grabbed 2 and they were 10 bucks each!!! You can't beat it!!!




Here are some pictures of Gabriella I took the other day. I just have to say that she takes my breath away. She's so beautiful.







She's already such a country girl. She loves being outside and loves playing in the garden, especially the peas.




Speaking of country, our bee keeping mentor came out to The Farm yesterday to help us catch the bees up. We have been seriously neglecting them for quite some time now. Luckily for us, they were doing just fine. It turns out that we will have a honey crop this year after all!!! YIPPY!! Come October we will be harvesting about 30 to 40 pounds of honey! I'm so very happy that our hive is doing well. The hive has grown significantly since last year and we may be able to split it in the spring. And to think that we were contemplating getting rid of them. So glad that all is well in bee land!

Well, I think that's about all for tonight. Mother is coming over in the morning to help me get some serious deep cleaning done, so I better get to sleep. Until next time!!

PS I can't figure out how to "comment" back on my posts, so thanks to all who comment. I'm still trying to figure out how to get back to you but I'll get there!

A Good Day

We have had such a great day. Woke up early and had coffee outside. Then we got dressed and headed down to the farmers market. I was in search of green beans to make Gabbie some baby food. We were in luck!!! Got some of those, some zucchini for dinner tonight and a bucket o' blackberries for dessert. I have a feeling that we will be heading there more often. There were farm fresh eggs, homemade breads, jams, and all kinds of produce. All the produce looked great too!

After that we went to one of my favorite places for a hike, Old Stone Fort Archaeological Park. Its one of two Mississippian mounds in Tennessee and only a 15 minute drive from the house. It was Gabbie's first hiking trip and she had a BLAST!!! I figured she would either fall asleep or start fussing but she did neither. She was awake and alert the entire time except for the last 5 minutes when she finally fell asleep, like she knew that the end was right there. It was a great day!

I was so excited this morning. I truly felt like a kid again. As children Poppa would take Mabel and I hiking all the time. We went all over the place!! We were always getting into something one the weekends. And yes dad, if you're reading this, I did end up with rocks in my backpack. I haven't split them yet but I'm almost positive of what I'll find;) I finally know what it feels like to hike out with a pack full of rocks. I think that was where you made a mistake, you carried them. I think that if Mabel and I had had our own packs and had to carry all the rocks in them, we would have brought alot less home. So when Gabbie is big enough for her own pack, she's definitely getting one!!








Even Auntie Mabel was there in spirit (raccoon tracks)!! I think next time we are going to take the girls with us. Now that we know how Gabbie is going to be, it will be easy for me to wrangle the dogs. Now we're home napping. Gonna have a great dinner and hopefully we'll sleep through the night, but I'm not holding my breath!!! Until next time!!

Happy Easter

Wow did we have a busy weekend. We had all kinds of company in, Poppa and Step-Mommie and Mabel were all in. We decided to have Gabbie baptized in the Catholic church as well so it was a double whammy for us. I dont have any pictures yet but when i do I'll post them. It really was great and she did such a good job through the whole thing. Now I need another day off just to rest from the weekend.

Life has been chaos still but its starting to get on schedule. Gabbie has been sleeping through the night, like 9 hours sometimes, which is great. Shes gotten into a real good schedule with everything. I'm so thankful for that. I need to work on her night time schedule a bit but i'm not complaining. Juggeling everything else has gotten a bit easier although I'm still running around crazy half the time. All in all I think I'm doing pretty well considering.

That's about it for now. As soon as I have pictures from this weekend I will post them. Until then here is one from last week. Until next time, Ya'll have a good one.

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I'm Alive....Barely

I haven't posted in a while...sorry about that. As you can imagine life has been busy. I'm wrapping up my maternity leave and not too happy about it. While I've been gone we got a new boss at work and from what I've heard he's a douse. My previous boss has warned me that we will not get along. So not only do I have to return to work but I have to return to a new and not so great boss. Lucky me! In hind sight it has pushed me even harder to get my application and resume out there. I need to find a new job, hoping it will be teaching. I just can't afford to work at the current place of employment much longer, not with Gabriella here. I've been praying and praying that a school system likes me enough to hire me, keep your fingers crossed.

By the way, the above picture is Gabbie at 2 months. She was 2 months yesterday, by week, and by date will be Friday.

Spring has sprung here at the farm. Everything is in bloom and pretty, although I had to use last years pictures for the new header because its been so rainy I haven't been able to take new one's. Oh well, a tree bloom is a tree bloom, right?! We are busy getting the yard and flower beds cleaned out and ready for new plantings. The Man has some plans for a couple new beds this year and we are making a BIG bed for Gabbie, called Gabbie's Garden. Cute, I know!!! Basically it will be a very large patch of wildflowers for now. When she gets older she can pick out what she wants to plant.

We are also getting the garden ready. Yep, its that time again. We want to "perfect" it this year. I'm hoping that we do. I'm also hoping that we have the time and energy to work now that we have a little one in tow. I know we will but at what price. Thank the Lord that my mother has the summer off and will be here to help out. I didn't get a quarter of my usual canning and freezing last year because I was in my first trimester. Now that I'm not pregnant, I can't wait to get my hands in the dirt and start growing things to "put up".

Well, I just put Gabbie down for a nap so I better use my time wisely and get some work done around this house. Who knows when I'll have time to dust the baseboards again. Until next time, ya'll have a great one!

Spring is Here?!

We are having an amazing weekend here in Middle Tennessee. The weather has been WONDERFUL!!! Yesterday the high was 70 and it was nice and sunny. I couldn't help but get out to take some well needed pictures. Our trees are starting to bloom as well so it was picture perfect. Here are just a couple.







I'm praying that the weather stays like this but my better sense knows better. Its like this every year; it gets nice then BAM it gets cold again! I just hope that its not too cold because our fruit trees are blooming as well and I want peaches this year!!!

Poppa and Step-Mommie came a day late but they came. We were afraid they wouldn't make it but they did!! I'm so thankful too cause I was looking forward to the visit... I miss them! Plus I know they wanted to see Gabbie :) Don't know yet what we are going to do today but either way it will be fun. I've got a couple sewing projects that I'm hoping to work on.

I'm also going to start getting ready for the week ahead. The Man is on Spring Break, Thank the Lord, and we are traveling to North Carolina at the end of the week. Its going to be tough but we really don't have much of a choice; there's rarely a time when the both of us are off work at the same time. I'm going to start getting everything ready for my return to work as well.

Well, I need to get up and get going. There are things to clean, cook, and sew. Until next time....Ya'll make it a good one!!

One Month Old

Guess who's a month old?? I can't believe it either. Time flies!!! This was taken on the 1st. She's changed so much. Her monthly check up went well. She now weighs 7lbs 14oz, a whole 2 lbs heavier that when she was born. She's also grown 3 inches, she's now 22 inches long. The doc is very happy with her progress and commends me on my very healthy supply of milk. It's definitely not skim!!!



We started her on a bottle this week too. I will be returning to work in a couple of weeks and I wanted to make sure that she would take a bottle without any problems. She did great!!! There have been no issues and no nipple confusion either. She can have a bottle at one feeding and the breast at the next with no issues. I had heard horror stories of babies refusing to take a bottle. I have to admit that I was scared. While I enjoy nursing her, I really need a break at times. I was looking forward to not having to nurse her every 2 hours. Thank the Lord she did well. Now Daddy can feed her! To celebrate, Mother and I went out shopping yesterday, with out Gabbie, for several hours and I didn't have to worry at all. It was wonderful!!!



We have a busy couple of weeks ahead of us. Next weekend Poppa and Step-Mommie will be visiting. I'm looking forward to seeing them. Its weird how we went from seeing each other all the time, when they lived in our driveway, to not seeing each other at all. Some weekends I still find myself listening for the screen door, waiting for Poppa to come in and get his morning coffee.

The weekend after that we are taking Gabbie on her first trip to North Carolina. The Man will be on spring break and its the most opportune time for us to make the trek to meet the rest of the family. It will prove interesting to say the least. I already have a list together of all the STUFF we will need to bring!! Needless to say, there's alot!! OMG!!! I'm really looking forward to it though. I haven't been back in a year. I miss my sorority sisters and I can't wait to spend some time with them. My mother-in-law is also having a baby shower for us so we will be coming home with 3 times the stuff. Hopefully there will be plenty of diapers!!!

The weekend after that is my grandfather's birthday and my aunt and uncle from Chicago are coming down. I miss them so much and I can't wait to introduce them to Gabriella. I think my other aunt and uncle will be down for Easter, which is a BIG holiday in our family. Gabbie already has her Easter dress, a gift from a family friend. I can't wait to get some "professional" pictures of her. I might have Poppa take some next weekend while he's here. He's always taken great pictures!

Well, Gabbie and The Man are hungry so I better get on breakfast. Until next time... Ya'll take care!

Gabbie and I

There aren't very many pictures of Gabriella and I that are flattering, but this one is an exception. Most of the pictures we have are of me, doped up, in the hospital with her. This was taken last week when I was in normal clothes, not pjs, and had make up on. Its an awesome picture and thought I'd share it.

3 Weeks Today

Gabriella is 3 weeks old today. Wow does time fly by. It really doesn't feel like she's been here for 3 weeks, but she has. My hormones have started leveling out a bit so I'm not as overly emotional as I was last week, Thank God! Gabbie is starting to sleep fairly well at night as well. Sometimes she's on a 2 hour schedule and other nights she sleeps longer between feedings. Some days are better than others, but all in all she's a pretty good baby. The Man may have to start sleeping in the guest room though, she's been keeping him up at night. She doesn't cry when she's ready to eat instead she makes this grunting noise and, unfortunately, she does it in her sleep as well. So, all night long you hear Gabbie grunt and, I have to admit, it can get pretty annoying.

She met her paternal grandparents this past weekend. They drove in from North Carolina on Friday and left yesterday morning. It was a nice visit. They also brought along The Man's grandfather so there were 4 generations together, so I just had to take a picture.



She also met her Uncle Patrick. Patrick and I went to high school together and have remained good friends. He made a special trip here from Alabama yesterday to see her. It was nice to visit with him. We hadn't seen each other since our wedding in 2008 but we have been in contact through out my pregnancy. He would always make sure to call after my doctor's appointments, making sure that we were OK. I'm lucky to have him apart of my life. Last night we sat and told The Man all the crazy stories from high school. I would go back to high school in a heart beat!! It truly was the best time of my life!



These are just a couple random pictures of Gabbie on a really cold day, all bundled up! The outfit she's wearing is a newborn size and she was swimming in it! But she had to have something warm cause it was really cold that day. The other is a picture that The Man took of Gabbie and I taking a nap. I love nothing more than holding her and taking a cuddly cat nap.




There are a TON of other pictures. Unfortunately they are not on my camera. I've been asking mother to burn me a CD with all of the ones from her camera but I haven't gotten one yet. I'm hoping I will soon and when I do I'll be sure to post more.

Gabbie is sleeping so I'm going to get some chores done and a couple other things I've been meaning to do. Until next time....Ya'll make it a good one!

Parenthood

All I can say is...well actually there are no words to describe the past couple of days. Gabbie and I were released from the hospital on Friday morning. Since then life has been filled with tears, family, poop, sore nipples, cake, more poop, sleepless nights, more tears, and did I mention poop. Its been crazy and beautiful all at once. I'm exhausted but I'm hanging in there. The Man has been amazing!!! Not only is he taking care of me but he is taking care of Gabbie too. The house has been filled with family and I loved every minute of it. I love to watch my family with my daughter; it's awesome to see how much she is loved. These are just a few pictures of her birthday and homecoming.











Yesterday and today she went for her first outings. We had to take care of the insurance stuff and she had her first doctors appointment. Gabriella is a very healthy little girl. When we were released, she weighed 5 lbs 8oz. Now she weighs 5lbs 13oz which is 1oz away from her birth weight!! YIPPY!!! That means mommy's milk is doing its job. The Man and I were very relieved to hear that she is doing so well. When we spoke with the pediatrician in the hospital, he was a bit concerned about her weight and not getting enough breast milk. At that time, my milk hadn't come in and Gabbie wasn't having many bowl movements, thus resulting in her being borderline jaundice. Now we know she is good to go!

The Man goes back to work tomorrow but my mother is taking the next couple of days off to help me around the house and get into some king of route. Next weekend the in-laws will be in town so I need to have the house ready to go for them. We are also going to conquer the little things that got skipped on my "to do before she's born" list, things like organizing the linen closet and getting all my craft/sewing supplies in order. I want to keep all my craft stuff at hand because I'm still working on several little projects, but I want it all to be easily put away.

Life is as good as can be expected. There have been good moments and not so good ones. There have been times where my patients was tested along with my sanity but I wouldn't change it for the world. When I start feeling helpless, I just look at that little girl and everything is automatically better again. Don't get me wrong, its been rough but we've gotten through it. I know that this is life now...unexpected, unrehearsed, unknown. It's kind of exciting and scary at the same time. There's no longer a tomorrow where I know what will happen and what I'll have to do, there is no consistency to life and I kinda like that.

I know that I'll be relying on my blog to vent and let the world know just what I'm going through. I'm glad that I have blogging as an outlet and I'm sure that I'll be taking advantage of that. Well it's almost time to wake Gabbie up and get her some dinner so I will stop here. Until next time....