Taking Baby Steps..

I can't believe another week has come and gone!  It amazes me how fast time goes by.. I'm going to need it to slow down a little bit!  :)

This past weekend was great!  We had to many good times.. and I got a little camera happy!  Laine had many "first" this weekend, so this post is filled with pictures of my sweet girl.. you have been warned!!!

Friday, we had the wonderful opportunity to see Jon's cousin, Allyson, while she was passing through town.  Laine and I had never met her, and she was so fun!  I'm so glad that we finally had the chance to meet!  Saturday was like any other Saturday!  Jon had to work at the shop, so Laine and I just hung out.. I do love me some girl time!  Sunday was busy, but fun!  I had to sing in church.. I love to do that because it is the only place I get a chance to sing at anymore.  I miss singing so much, so I jump at every opportunity they give me!  I feel blessed that they enjoy hearing it as much as I enjoy doing it!  After church, we came home and changed, then headed straight to the Gaffney outlets!  We got Laine lots of cute outfits!!!  She is going to be stylin' this summer!  It was SO hot at the outlets.. but I was happy to get Laine some things.  We ran by the mall for a quick second, and finally home.. we were WORN out!

Our running around made us all so tired, but I was really excited when we got home because we were going to be giving Laine her first bites of real baby food!!  We set up the high chair and got her all set up.. then the first bite of apples went in and she looked at me like I had just betrayed her!!!  It went a little something like this:

Clearly, she would rather eat her hands!  After her eating attempt, she played a little in her high chair.. I was glad to at least see that she would sit in it and play for a while.. it gave us a chance to get some stuff done around the house!

Today, we were so lucky to have Jon home for Memorial Day!  We spent the morning just being lazy and enjoying some family time.. then we gave baby food another try.. its going to take a while for Miss Priss to get used to this!  I know it takes time.. and to be totally cliche, Laine is definitely taking baby steps down the road of mastering real food!  She cried so much and threw such a fit the second go round that she completely wore herself out!  Poor thing!

After her little power nap, we all headed over to my parents house for a Memorial Day cookout/pool day!  Laine had never been in the pool before, so I was interested to see how she would handle it!  She LOVED it!  At first, she wasn't too sure, but after a few minutes she started smiling and really seemed to enjoy herself!  Mom brought some watermelon out for us and as we were eating it, Laine REALLY looked interested.. so Aunt Ashton gave her some.. she couldn't get enough!  She was sucking all of the juice out and would cry when we took it out of her mouth!  It was SO funny!

Later on, we were all sitting outside by the pool and I remembered when I was a kid, how much I LOVED FreezePops.. so of course, I thought this would be the perfect time to let Laine try one.. I think we have started something..

Finally, what would Memorial Day weekend be without doing a little balloon chasing.  For those who don't know, in Simpsonville, we host a festival each year called Freedom Weekend Aloft.  Every day, there are tons of hot air balloons that fill the sky just before sunset.  They take off from the park where the festival is and many land in the fields by my parents house.  We love to go out and look for where they are landing so we can get an up close look at the balloons!  It really is a cool site.  Of course.. I took pictures!

I am truly sorry for all the pictures in this post.. but this blog is a way to help me remember the milestones our sweet baby girl covers!  For some reason, I still have not gotten a baby book.  Every time I say I need to get one, I get to the store and loose track of what I went there for!  I ALWAYS forget the baby book!  Oh well..
As you can see, we had a fantastic weekend!  It was filled with so many new and exciting experiences for Laine and I can't think of a better way to spend my time than to see her experience those things for the first time.. whether she likes them or not!  Its fun to see how she is going to react!  I just love this sweet little girl and can't wait to see what she will get into next!!  

"It's the simple things in life that are the most extraordinary.."

I've decided that weekends are not for resting anymore!  We just stay busy in this family.. I'll rest when I'm old I guess!
Saturday, I spent most of the day cleaning the disaster my house had become!  We had multiple loads of laundry lining the hallway (I'm embarrassed to say how many!), and cleaning out Laine's room took forever!  I finally cleaned out her drawers and put up the last of her newborn clothes.  Holding up those little sleepers that she wore right after she came home from the hospital made me SO sad.. I miss her being that tiny.  It never fails.. when we are out and about someone will make a comment about how little she is! This cracks me up, because to me she is SO big compared to that sweet, cuddly six pound baby we brought home!  As sad as it makes me to see her growing so fast, I am excited about the years to come.  We have already made so many fun plans for this baby girl and I can't wait to share them with her!  We are going to have a blast in the coming years!
Saturday night was Jon's speech and debate teams end of the year banquet.  It was the longest, most drawn out event, and of course, we had to take Laine.  After hour two, I started to get worried about how Laine was going to last till the end, but she did.  She was the most PERFECT child.. even better than some of the high schoolers!!!  She whimpered, I kid you not, ONCE in FOUR AND A HALF HOURS!!!!!  I think she was enjoying being the center of attention!  She was laughing and smiling at everybody.. What a joy she is!
Sunday, we finished the rest of the cleaning that I didn't get to on Saturday.. its sad when your place is so bad that it takes two days to clean.. especially when its as tiny as ours is!!  Oh well.. I've had more important things to do!  The rest of the day was spent running errands and then relaxing with my little family.
As simple and boring as this weekend may have been to most, to me its all everyday wonderful!  I know I say it in every post, but I am incredibly blessed!  I can't thank God enough for the things he has given me in my life.  I have the most wonderful husband who I love more and more everyday.  He makes me laugh till my stomach hurts and I can't imagine life without him.  We have a large, wonderful, and supportive family that would do anything for us.. that is more than many people can say.  And most importantly, He made us the parents of the most beautiful, happy, and healthy baby girl.  I truly could not ask for anything more than this crazy, wonderful, hectic, and beautiful life!

Hello again..

So I kind of forgot about this blog!  Tells you just how crazy life has been lately!  Laine seems to be growing bigger every minute and I can't believe that in just a week, she will be four months old.  Things are much different from when I last wrote.  We finally took Laine to the doctor and found out that she had severe acid reflux.  After starting her on Zantac and adding cereal to her evening bottle, I have a different child!  She is SO much happier now that she is not in pain.  I am so glad that we got it figured out!
Laine has fallen into a set schedule.  She is definitely a schedule baby and she doesn't like to stray from it!  Could be a good or bad thing in the future!  An example of that was last week, when we had Laine baptized.  It was a beautiful service, except that during the time of the service she is usually napping.  Needless to say, she wasn't too happy during the ceremony!  I was kind of cute though.. makes for a funny story later in her life!  Her show out from us taking her off her schedule continued into her luncheon where she made it known that she WAS NOT HAPPY!!!  It was still a good day!  It was my first mother's day!  I could not think of a better way to celebrate it than to watch as my sweet girl began her walk in the way of the Lord.  We are blessed!

As I sit drinking my camomile and peppermint tea, writing this, I think about just how incredibly lucky we are!  We have been blessed with a happy healthy baby, who lights up our lives!  This evening, Jon and I spent an hour laying on the floor in Laine's room watching her while she played on her rug.  She loves sounds and lights and is REALLY showing a sassy personality.. but I wouldn't expect anything different from a child of mine!

I have two favorite parts of the day.. when I go into Laine's room to get her up and when I am rocking her to sleep.  When I go to get her up, Laine greets me with the biggest, most wonderful smile.. it is the BEST way to start the day.  Rocking her to sleep has become my thing, and I just stare at that sweet face as she drifts to sleep.. I can't wait until I see that perfect face and smile tomorrow morning!

"Breathe in, Breathe out.."

Wow.. I haven't posted in a while!  Probably because over the past several days, I have become insanely overwhelmed with the reality to this whole motherhood thing!  This may be so silly, but I just saw the new pampers commercial and new mothers and just started crying!  The words are SO true and it made me feel like the feelings I've been having are completely normal.  
Here are the words for those who have not seen it:
     Welcome to Motherhood
     It’s the start of a new chapter for your family.
     You’ll have your baby in your arms and think,
     just a few days ago you were inside of me.
     This world will be different than your moms
     But you’ll want to ask her about everything
     And everything you used to do with 2 hands
     You’ll now do with one.
     You’ll take a millions photos of the same thing,
     And want to show them to everyone.
     Sometimes you’ll beg for silence.
     But then you’ll worry when its quiet.
     Sometimes you will ask, “what did I do?”
     But more times you’ll think, “Wow!, look what I’ve done!”
     And you will wonder if there is a new mom out there going through the exact same thing!


I can't begin to tell you how comforting these words are!  Laine has been going through a spell where ALL she does is cry.  She is fed, clothed, changed, warm, and SHOULD be happy.. but she's not.  I have always been that person who cringes at the sound of an infant crying and I thought, at first, that since she was mine it would be ok.. thought wrong!  There are MANY moments throughout the day when I think that I'm going to loose it.  I truly have to put her in her room, shut the door, and walk away to collect myself.  Sometimes it takes five minutes.. sometimes it takes an hour.  It leaves me feeling bad for reacting the way I do because I know that she can't help it.. she's a baby!  And I feel bad because I can't figure out what is wrong.. However, in the moment, I don't know what else to do.  
The line above about asking "what did I do".. I ask myself that EVERY day, a million times a day!!!  But then, there really are those moments where I catch myself thinking "Wow! Look at what I've done!"  I am incredibly blessed to have Laine in my life.  No, she wasn't a planned baby, but I believe everything happens for a reason.  God decided that he was going to send her to me to teach me lessons!  The first one I've stated before, and that is definitely that life will not go according to my plan, but according to His!  I've very recently come to learn that the second lesson I believe is patience!!  I'm still working on that one.. as I write actually!  She's been screaming for the past hour and a half.  WHEW!
As horrible as this post sounds, I do hope that everyone realizes that this is my way of dealing with these frustrations.  I love my daughter more than anything else in this world and nothing.. not even her screaming at me, making me feel like she doesn't care for me much and that I have no idea what I'm doing.. will ever change that!  This time in my life is nothing but a learning process and while I may not enjoy every moment.. I know that I am lucky and extremely blessed  for everything and everyone in my life!

Weekend Bliss!

What a wonderful weekend we have had!  Jon had Saturday, Sunday, and Monday off so it was great to get to spend some extra time with him.
Saturday was spent out and about.. we finally made it downtown to some to the little shops.  I've been trying to get down there to shop for months, so it was about time!  We also made it to the mall to visit everyone at the Apple Store.  I finally got my computer fixed (YAY!!) and just being in that store made me miss my job so much!  It was the people I worked with that made my job so enjoyable.  It was great to see them!
Sunday, we had a great time relaxing at home!  We don't get a lot of time to do that together, so I really enjoyed getting to bum around the house with my two favorite people!  That night, we had dinner at my parents house with them and my grandparents.  My sisters and I looked through some pictures of us when we were little and it is funny to see how much Laine looks like me and Blaire.  She definitely gets her facial expressions from her momma!

Today, we took Laine to the doctor for her one month check-up.  She weighed in at 7 pounds, 13 ounces and was 21 inches long!!  My little girl is growing so fast!  What I can't believe is that on Friday, she will be one month old.  It feels like I had her last week!!  This just tells me that she is going to grow up way too fast.. time needs to slow down a bit!  I had my first sad mommy moment today, though, when she got her first shot.  Laine handled it much better than I did!  They stuck her and she screamed out.. thats all it took for me to be upset!  She only cried for a few minutes, while mommy stayed teary-eyed all the way to the car!  I just don't like for her to hurt.. I'm not going to handle these doctors appointments well!!

Now, I'm sitting in bed writing this and glancing over at my little Laine in her bassinet, WIDE awake!  She loves to just sit and look around!  We are SO blessed to have such a healthy, happy baby!  I think I'm about to enjoy some cuddle time while she falls asleep!  I just LOVE this little girl!!  :)

New Experiences..

I have had so much "new" in my life recently, I decided that now would be a perfect time to begin a blog!  I don't know where to start!  There has been SO much change in my life over the past few months, I thought I was going to go insane!  I am not a person who handles change well and since November we have moved, Jon got a job teaching(PRAISE GOD), I left my wonderful job at Apple, and the biggest change of all.. we had a baby!  Poor Jon can tell you that I was not a great person to be around in the months before Laine Abigail's arrival.  Being one who doesn't much care for the unexpected, I was a NERVOUS wreck!  I knew our lives were about to be turned upside down, and I wasn't too sure how I felt about it.  I had just landed a fabulous job working with a company many dream of working for when I found out I was pregnant.  I wanted to put all my time and effort into climbing the ladder at Apple.. now I have to focus on a baby.. WHAT WAS I GOING TO DO??  I'll be completely honest with you, I spent many nights crying because this "wasn't my plan"!  After a lot of time thinking and feeling overwhelmed, there was a moment when it all became ok.. I realized that this was God's way of telling me that life isn't going to go according to my plan, it is going to go according to his.  He decided that Jon and I were to be parents!  How blessed are we!
I had an interesting pregnancy to say the least!  Morning sickness, which should be called constant sickness, set in QUICK and lasted the entire pregnancy!  The doctor that I was seeing was ridiculous and didn't pay attention to some concerns I was having.  Towards the end of the pregnancy, I knew that something wasn't right, and since my doctor wouldn't listen to me, I decided that it was time to find another doctor.  So, I switched at 35 weeks.  At my first appointment at the new doctor, I found out that I was a gestational diabetic AND was trending towards preeclampsia.  Awesome, right?!  I was immediately taken out of work and told to rest.  After a few weeks of monitoring my blood pressure the doctors decided that it was time to go ahead and deliver.  WAIT.. I thought I had a few more weeks!  I don't like the unexpected, remember!!  As excited as I was about meeting our baby girl, I can't begin to explain the fear I had.  In less than 24 hours, I would be solely responsible for a life.
The time spent in the hospital before she was born was spent thinking about what our lives were going to be like.  What was she going to be like?  After 24 hours, my body was not responding to the induction and we decided to opt for a c-section.. just what I didn't want!  Once again.. I don't like the unexpected!  We went through the prep for surgery and before I new it, I heard that beautiful first cry!  They brought her around the curtain, and I was in LOVE!  Life had drastically changed in that very moment.. and I now see how foolish I was for worrying like I did about it.  I knew at that moment that my life was just beginning!
Ever since we welcomed Laine into the world, our lives have been full of happiness!  How silly does that sound!  But really, I can't begin to tell you how happy I am now that she is here.  We have come to realize how extremely blessed we are as a family.  The immense amount of support we have received from our families and friends is greatly appreciated!  We see every day as a learning experience.  I find myself laughing most of the time because we have NO idea what we are doing!  We get better at it as we go and know that no matter what, we mean the world to that little girl.. and she is my world!  
I know this first post is extremely wordy and I promise you.. the rest wont be like this!!  I want to end this post with a quote I found a little while back that I have turned to many times in the past few months. It helped me put things into perspective.. maybe it will do the same for you..
"Life isn't supposed to be an all or nothing battle between misery and bliss. Life isn't supposed to be a battle at all. And when it comes to happiness, well, sometimes life is just okay, sometimes it's comfortable, sometimes wonderful, sometimes boring, sometimes unpleasant. When your day's not perfect, it's not a failure or a terrible loss. It's just another day.”