Little Miss Gracie Mae

Well our beautiful little baby girl has arrived!!! Her story is below. Please be warned that there may be a few over shares. I wrote this mainly for me.  

I woke up Saturday morning around 5:00 and was cramping. Around 6:00 I started having contractions. I was supposed to take Chris to the ice rink that morning so he could coach but I had him cancel his lesson just to be safe. At 10:30 we called the hospital because my contractions had been fairly consistent for an hour. They told me I was still in pre labor and that I should stick it out for another hour and then call. I waited 2 hours and called back at 12:30. They told me to head in and they would check my cervix but that there's a chance they would send me back home. I got there around 1:00. They checked me and I was dilated to a 3. I had a doctors appointment the previous day and that's what I was then too so nothing had really changed. I was, however, a little bit more effaced and was having contractions every 2-4 minutes. The nurse, Carole, told me I could go home for a couple of hours or I could walk around the hospital for an hour to see if I could dilate anymore. They told me if I changed at all, even if it was a little bit, that they would admit me. Anyway, we decided to stay and walk. Since Chris was on crutches he sat in the lobby and I walked with my friend, Melanie. That hour was the longest, most miserable hour of my life. I swear it felt like I was walking for 5 hours because it went by so slow. Finally at 3:00 I went back in and they checked me again. Hallelujah I was at a 5!!! From there they checked me into a regular room. I got my IV in me and at 4:10 the anesthesiologist came in and gave me my epidural. I was so nervous to get it but it wasn't bad at all. In fact, I'm pretty sure the IV hurt worse. After about 20 or 30 minutes my left side was feeling pretty good but it hadn't gone to my right side yet so they had me lay on my right side to try and get it to head that direction more. After a few pumps of the juice and about an hour I was feeling pretty darn good. At 4:30 my doctor came in. He checked me again and I was at a 6. Then he broke my water. Around 5:30 he came in again and checked my cervix. I was at a 9. He told me he'd be back in an hour and that I'd probably be ready to go! He came in a little after 7 and said I was ready to start pushing! At 7:10 the fun began. It really wasn't too bad BUT after about an hour I was totally exhausted. I told Chris I wanted to take a nap. Haha! Yeah right! Finally, at 8:53 our little Gracie arrived. The doctor put her right on my chest and the whole thing was so surreal and so amazing all at the same time. Chris was too grossed out to cut the umbilical cord so my doctor asked me if I wanted to do it. I would have but I was too busy admiring my brand new baby so we had the doctor do it. I was able to hold Gracie for quite awhile as they were able to do a lot of the measurements and things while she was on me. They said she was absolutely perfect and gave her a 9.9/10 on the apgar test. After awhile they took her from me. It was then that we discovered the biggest mess ever! Her first poop was ALL over me. Up and down my arm, all over my bed, sheets, etc. They said they have never seen a baby make such a big mess. It was funny. After that they weighed her. She weighed in at a whopping 6 pounds and 11 ounces and measured 19.5 inches long. We were all a little surprised at how "big" she was especially since I was measuring so small throughout my pregnancy. Even the doctor was surprised and said she was a big baby for me. Another reason I'm grateful I didn't go all the way to my due date because she would have been that much bigger! After weighing her they gave her back to me and I was able to nurse her and cuddle her. Chris still hadn't held her at this point because they hadn't bathed her yet and he didn't want to get dirty. Haha! Funny guy. She hated her first bath until they started washing her bum. Then she calmed right down. Apparently she liked it. We are so in love with her and fall even more in love each day! We're so blessed to have such a beautiful, healthy baby! 

And now for some pictures:

Epidural is in and I'm feeling good :)

And we wait

Monitoring my contractions and the baby's heartbeat

Our room

Chris was a little grossed out by everything so he positioned himself facing the wall.

First picture of baby

Happy little family

6 pounds 11 ounces

Hating her bath

Goopy eye drops

He is one proud (and tired) Daddy!

And I am one proud (and tired) Momma!

Visit from the Fam

My Dad, Mom and two sisters, Karissa and Anna came up for a short visit a couple weeks ago. Chris and I bought a new car while we were in Utah over Christmas so they drove it up to us along with all my baby shower gifts and the changing table my Dad built. It probably wasn't the most exciting trip for them because they helped a lot with getting the nursery set up but I sure loved having them here! And I'm extremely grateful for the help they gave me.

Little Things That Make Me Happy

If you're anything like me then simple, little things make you happy! I love it! I'm going to share a few of those things since they're on my mind.

• BABY!!! Okay...this one is obvious. Something would be seriously wrong with me if the thought of having a baby soon didn't make me happy. In fact, happy just isn't quite strong enough of a word to express how excited I am to be a Mom and to meet our baby girl. I know I'm biased but I dare say she's going to be pretty cute judging by this little pic of her (taken at 34 weeks):

Adorable, right? Look at the perfect little face! Those cheeks are going to get lots and lots of kisses. Okay...I'm done.

• MY DIAPER BAG. I know it's probably weird that this makes me happy but it does. I wanted a Petunia Pickle Bottom diaper bag since I found out I was pregnant. They're not cheap though. $180 for one! BUT after talking to several people I determined it was worth it. I convinced Chris it was worth it too so we decided we would get one. Well...one day whilst surfing the world wide web I saw an add that said "Petunia Pickle Bottom Sale." I figured most of the ones on sale would be ugly but decided to check it out anyway. To my surprise I found several cute ones that were on sale for $100!!! They didn't have the one I really wanted but I found one equally as cute and ordered it. Wahoo!!! Here it is:

• TAX SEASON ENDING SOON. Oh I cannot express the amount of joy this brings me. I've only got one more week as a tax widow then I get my husband back!!! Oh happy day!!! 

• COCONUT LIMEADE SMOOTHIES. These are delicious and make my belly happy. 

• DR. SEUSS. I have always been a fan of Dr. Seuss books but never had a reason to get any until now. I am very excited about the collection I've got started. They make me happy!

• FINDING NEW, YUMMY RECIPES. Unfortunately this doesn't happen near as often as I'd like but it happened yesterday! I made some yummy chicken fajitas found via pinterest. They were delish. I was looking forward to having the leftovers for lunch today but I opened up the fridge to find that Chris took ALL of the leftovers for his lunch. I guess he liked them too. 

• MY CALLING. About a year ago I got called as the Young Women's Secretary. However, a month or two ago I was released from that calling and put in as the Mia Maid advisor. I was sad to not be the secretary anymore but it didn't take long to get over that. I am able to work a lot closer with the girls than I was as secretary. Last week we had a really random activity (planned by the Young Women). We went to Wendy's and got fries and frosty's and then went to a carwash. None of them had been to one of the manual ones so it was quite the adventure and they (and me as well) had lots of fun. It was very entertaining!

• MY JEEP. Does anyone else get attached to cars as much as I do? Chris and I ALMOST sold it a couple weeks ago. We thought it was the smart thing to do. Once we decided to sale it I could hardly even look at it because I felt like I was betraying it. Haha! I posted it on Craigslist and within two days we had 10 people that were interested in it. We met up with a lady at a park so she could check it out. While on our way there I started crying. Yep. I cried. Over a car. Ridiculous, right? Chris admitted he was really sad too! We talked it over and decided to hang onto it. WAHOO!!! We haven't regretted it yet and Chris is telling me all the things he wants to do to it. We're dorks but we're happy dorks!

I have a lot more I could put on here but I'll stop there for now. I've rambled long enough. :)

Crib Revival

Chris and I were offered a free crib from one of his co-workers. At first I REALLY didn't want it and for a couple different reasons. 1) I didn't like the color because it wouldn't match the rest of the room and 2) I wanted to pick out my own crib. Who wouldn't? 

We looked into having it refinished by someone. As soon as we heard that it could be anywhere from $500-$800 that was out of the question. I could get two cribs for that price! I talked to my family about it (because I was in Utah at the time and wanted their opinions) and my Dad said that he would help us refinish it. After much debating we I decided we would take it. Once I got back from Utah Chris picked up the crib and we began sanding away at it so it would be ready for when my Dad, Mom and sisters got here. The day after they arrived we went to work! It was pretty painless having that many people help and the crib turned out great! 

The best part of all of this? We saved $325! The crib I wanted was $350 and the cost of the paint was $25. Pretty awesome if you ask me. We did get a new mattress for it and that was $100 but still really cheap!!! AND the crib is a really nice designer crib and probably would have cost us a fortune if we bought it brand new. We definitely scored.

Now for some before, during and after pictures:

BEFORE

DURING

AFTER

Please notice my adorable crib skirt. My Mom and I made it. :)

Josh Ritter

For Chris' birthday WAY back in December I bought him tickets to go to a Josh Ritter concert. Finally, after months of waiting, the day came and we were able to go. It was a-ma-zing. If you ever get the chance to see him live,  you should take it. The show didn't start until 9:00pm...which is usually my bedtime. I made sure to take a good nap that day so I wouldn't be super tired and cranky. :) The opener, "The Royal City Band" was pretty good but, of course, it's always nice once the  person you're there to see comes out. So, finally around 10:30 he made his appearance. Anyway, like I said before, it was awesome. Both Chris and I had a really good time! I tried to get pictures of the stage and everything but it was pretty dark so they didn't turn out very well.

Roller Derby

Chris and I got this weird desire to go to a Roller Derby so we called up some of our friends, bought some tickets and went. It was quite the experience and was actually a lot of fun. I'm pretty sure I'm not cut out to be a roller girl. They were hard core! One girl even got hauled out on a stretcher. We made sure to study the rules beforehand so we knew a little bit of what was going on. It was really fast paced and really fun :)

Baby Shower

This is baby shower #2. My Mom and sisters threw it for me and they did a fabulous job! I definitely got spoiled by everyone who came.

The food table.

Heidi made these cute signs!!!

The best part is now I get to hang them in the nursery!

Yummy desserts

Decor

More decor

Drink

Cute paper straws. 

I thought they would be weird to drink from but they weren't.

Opening gifts

Super cute blanket that Shallon Atwood made

My Dad made me a changing table. It's not quite finished in this photo. I will post a finished picture when I do a post on my nursery. He did such an amazing job! It is seriously so beautiful. I love it.

Me and my Mother in law

Party favors

My mom, sisters and me

All the loot. That's a lot of cuteness in one place.