Happy Thanksgiving!!

Psalm 107:1
'Give thanks to The Lord, for He is; His love endures forever!'

I'm thankful this year for a million things!! I'm so glad that God has chosen mike & me to be the parents of Asher & Presley. We are so thankful for our sweet kids!! My family is amazing and our friends rock! We couldn't be more thankful for everything that God given us.
We celebrated this year at mikes aunt/uncles house as we do every year. The food was seriously amazing and it was great to send the day with his family. Sadly, this was my first year not to spend thanksgiving with anybody in my immediate family. My mom & Ralph are in Scotland on a 'house hunting' trip. They were gone over thanksgiving and will officially move on the 15th. (😥) So sad already.
This week will be busy--6 week pp doc appointment on tuesday, mikes grandmother is coming to visit on Wednesday, shopping with my mom on Thursday, NorthPark Trains on Friday an me & the kids leave for California on Saturday. Whew..... I need a glass of wine right about now... 😉🍷

Sweet pea update

Little Presley is doing great!! So still sleeps most of her days away but is a bit more active with tummy time and staring at her surroundings on stroller walks when she's awake. She is just over one month old. Last weekend her and I took a road trip to Oklahoma City to visit my step grandparents. My stepmom & step sis drove down from Nebraska (the MAiN reason for my visit) with Kinsey's new baby boy, Liam. He was so sweet! He is 2 weeks old and already bigger than Presley. It was fun to see then together and take lots of pics! Pres did great on the drive to & from. It was perfect timing since she usually eats every 3-4 hours. She slept the whole way and I nursed her right when we got there and same for the way home. Much easier this with a toddler, ha!
I got to taking with mike the other day and realized that since I'm off work I should take advantage and go visit my brother & sister in California!! Soooo, I called my mom to see if she wanted to fly with me and my kiddos to the west coast and needless to say she didn't need any coaxing at all! We are going in 2 weeks!!! We booked our flights, hotel & rental car this week! I'm super excited!! It's also perfect for my mom since she's moving to Scotland in a few weeks...she'll get to see everybody before they make the big move!!' :(( still so sad about that!!
Pics...

Happy Halloween

I can't believe it's November!!! This year is flying by, let alone Presley is already 3 weeks old! My maternity leave is 1/4 over already. :((
I'm not a big Halloween fan--not that I'm against it but I'm not much of a fan. Asher's daycare had a Fall Fest on Monday evening so we went to that. Asher dressed up as Elmo and I wore my Moby for the first time and had Presley in my pouch dressed as a pumpkin--although you could only see her head poking out. I love the Moby!! I didn't use a carrier with Asher but I heard that with a toddler running around that they are a staple with your 2nd child--especially as an infant. It was great! We didn't stay long since I didn't time it with Presley's nursing schedule very good but it was fun. There were different games (bowling, bean bag toss, etc) in every room & the kids picked out prizes at each station, Petting zoo, popcorn & lemonade, contests, and a big book fair. It was fun to see all of Asher's little friends & teachers having fun together!

Our annual neighborhood Halloween event was today. I always volunteer to help with it but since this year Presley is so small I decided against it, which I'm glad. I was too exhausted to go out there today. We actually turned off our lights and made stir fry for dinner. Ha! No trick or treaters for us. Maybe next year we'll turn the lights on but since Asher goes to bed so early and it's a 'school night' we decided against it. And he's still so young--he's not into it yet.

On another note, my sister Kinsey had her baby!! Liam John was born on the 29th after a long labor. This is her first baby. She & her husband are overjoyed to say the least!! Liam is the 9th grandchild for my parents--my dad jokes about being able to fill a baseball field now! Haha! Crazy how our family grows so fast--I love it!! Liam & Presley will be so close in age, I can't wait for them to meet & play together when they are older!
We are hoping to meet sweet Liam soon! They live in Nebraska so were hoping to meet in Oklahoma City (where we have other family) soon!

On other notes...Presley is gaining weight just fine. She weighed 7lbs 2oz at her appointment yesterday. The doc said she looks perfect and she will visit again when she is 2 months for her next well visit. Presley is nursing good and Mike is feeding her one feeding (the midnight feed) from a bottle. That let's me sleep a longer stretch which is awesome!! Other than that, I feel like she nurses allllll day long! Ha! I don't mind though. I came across this article which I thought was great... http://www.pregnancy.org/article/how-breastfeeding-benefits-add
Talks about the benefits of breastfeeding. Obviously is advantageous but it lays out all the detailed facts which is encouraging (when I'm up at the wee hours of the night!)!
I'm not able to caption the pics but there is Asher & my mom at the pumpkin patch, me & Presley in the Moby, Asher as Elmo & baby Liam--8lbs 2oz--already a pound bigger than Presley! Hehee!!

Post Baby

Things are going much smoother after this pregnancy than it did with Asher. I remember being a MESS after I had Asher. Not that I haven't had my crazy moments this time but I think I was more prepared. We're so thankful for all of our friends & family that visited us in the hospital, called, texted, sent cards, food, flowers, gifts, etc. We really have a great support system and love everyone of y'all!! We are still getting meals delivered...it's crazy!! Our parents visit all the time and my mom has been an exceptionally huge help--coming with to every one of Presley & my doctor appointments when mike is working and bringing tons of food & groceries over! Huge help!!
Presley is doing great. She has another weight check this week to ensure she's gaining enough weight since I'm breastfeeding and can't really track the ounces she's consuming. Last week she was at 6lbs 9oz (10th percentile!) little bitty thing!! But she's been eating like a champ so I don't think there will be any issues. :)
2 weeks postpartum and I only have 6 more pounds to lose before I'm at my prepreggo weight! Of course my postpartum body has a whole new shape and things haven't really gone back to the way it was, but that'll take time. I'm not too worried about it. I will say I feel like I eat way more now than when I was pregnant. Nursing takes a lot out of me and needs the extra calories too!
Here are some pics of our hospital visitors. Super bummed that I missed pics with Lauren & Timarie!! We so have a bunch more but they are on my other camera...so this is all for today! :))

Presley's nursery

Presley's nursery has been completed for awhile now. Credit goes to Pinterest & my mom! Love how it turned out!! Of course she's still in our room in her bassinet but sooner or later she'll actually use her room. :))

Presley Rose

Our sweet baby girl, Presley Rose, was born on 10/11/12 (what a easy birthday to remember, Yay!!) at 10:51a!! 6lbs 11oz & 18.5 inches tall.
She is the perfect and final addition to our family, we can't believe we are a family of FOUR and can't stop smiling!!
I was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday night at 10p. Basically, everything went as planned. I was dilated at a 3 when I went in. They started the meds to ripen my cervix overnight. I had some ugly contractions and could barely sleep that night. My water broke on its own and about that time I asked for the epidural. A few hours later I went from being dilated from a 4 to 10 within about 30 minutes!! She was definitely coming fast!! They had to call my doctor super fast and rush him over. My mom & step mother in law were there as I was feeling tons of pressure from the baby being super low and ready to come out!! We waiting on the doctor and I literally pushed twice when he got there and she Presley made her entrance!! This labor was much easier than Asher's. I pushed for about an hour with him. So I had much more energy that day and the days to follow. We had lots of loving visitors that stopped by to meet our baby girl. Asher stayed at my inlaws house, we were tempted to have him meet Presley at the hospital but since h3's still so young (didn't understand the 'big brother' role quite yet), and since we live about an hour away from the hospital, we decided to wait until we got home for them to meet. We stayed in the hospital for 2 nights after Presley was born. The 2nd night they give a 'celebration dinner' and serve steak & lobster with chocolate cake!! Oh so delish!!! Overall, the hospital experience and the labor/birth was great. We are now home and Presley is doing great. We have another check up at her pediatrician tomorrow to check on her jaundice levels. Her numbers spiked a bit last week so they want to follow up again. Asher is warming up to her more and more each day. He loves to 'pet' her and help me burp her gently after she nurses. He's really sweet with her and luckily he hasn't poked any eyes yet (that's what mike was/is afraid of!) haha!
Anyway, it's 4:30a, I'm off to catch a couple more hours of sleep before I'm up again. I'll leave you with some pics...💛💛💛💛

Last nights sleep....

Tonight is my last full nights sleep before the baby comes...in my bed! Tomorrow at this time I'll be at the hospital and the ripening of the cervix will have started.
I remember the process when I delivered Asher and it was pretty painful as the night went on. I remember they gave me a sleeping pill to help me rest but it didn't help. I was up most of the night and around 3a I was crying my eyes out because the pain started to get bad. Lots of contractions!! So I'll consider tonight as my last night of sleep. Eeek!! This week I've been so anxious awaiting the big delivery day!! Tonight I broke down multiple times to Mike. Partially for no reason at all and others because I'm not sure ill be a good enough 'mother of 2'!! It will be hard and I'm scared. He, of course, talked me through it and made me realize how lucky we are to be the parents of our sweet babies!! Together, we'll be a wonderful team!! I'm still scared but he made my years go away temporarily! Ha!!
Here's to hoping for a gooooood nights sleep!!!! Zzzzzzz...