Christmas Festivities

The truth is, it hasn't really felt like Christmas around here. The weather is warm and we're not getting much sleep. And we're just trying to make it from one day to the next. But, we decided to get out and go look at Christmas lights last night. We dressed Boo and Bit in their Christmas jammers and off we went. There's a neighborhood here in SA that has great lights. So, we (and everyone else in South Texas) went to check it out. It was nice to get out as a family and enjoy the season.

We kept the ball rolling this morning by going over to the Bass Pro Shop to see Santa. Boo was excited to see Santa and to tell him what kind of present he wanted. Just FYI, he wants a red present. It should be pretty easy for Santa to come up with one of those.

Enjoy the pics and videos.

Boo with "Prosty" the "Snowmam" at the Bass Pro Shop


Boo and Bit with Santa

In their Christmas jammers ready to look at lights.

Boo wanted to hold Bit's hand in this picture.

This house had traffic lined up around the block.

The lights are synchronized to Christmas music.

Boo telling us about the lights.

An early Christmas present!
I'm counting this as at least a half smile!!

Another Photo Update

Beautiful girl!

Aunt R with her niece and nephew!
BeBe, I didn't get a pic of you on my camera. :(


Tummy Time!

Boo playing with Bit!

First Bottle!
Thanks Dad!

Boo's first Christmas program at school.
He clammed up big time when he saw me in the audience.
He just stood there with ya ya up to his face and tears in his eyes.

In the audience of the Christmas program.

Before the program. Waiting in his class with the other students.

Video of his class during their part of the program.

Calling for Mama during the rest of the program.

First Photo Shoot

So, I saw these super cute hats online and ordered one for Miss Bitsy for her birth announcement photo. While BeBe was here, she helped set up this "studio" of sorts so that we could take M's picture. Here are some of the shots that didn't make the final cut!

Ahhh...Success!

B-man behind the backdrop holding up our Lil Bit!
Thanks again Honey!

We're definitely in survival mode! It is quite the adjustment going from a family of three to four. And now that BeBe and Aunt R are back in SC, we're really trying to find our way. I had some post partum issues with Lil Boo and seem to be having them with Miss Bit as well. So, I've been to the doctor and am now taking some medication to help ease my nerves and anxiety. It does seem to be helping so far. We're all adjusting and doing the best we can.
We love our sweet girl and our sweet boy to pieces.
Thanks for all of your words of encouragement!

My Better Half

Today's post is all about giving props to my wonderful husband!
He returned to work today after ten days of paternity leave. Sniff! Sniff ! (seriously, tears in my eyes as I type...)
He's been nothing short of AMAZING since I went into labor on Thanksgiving night.
He's been leading our family ever since with a great attitude and sense of humor in tact.
He's been playing endless games with our resident "Big Brother", has been doing countless house chores, has been giving this super tired Mom the hugs and encouragement she needs to make it through the day and the list goes on from there.

Thank you Honey for all that you're doing for us. We're definitely missing you today! I could NOT do this without you. How blessed I am to have you as my better half!

One Week and One Day

Well, we made it to one week old and that's nothing to laugh at! Boy, this is hard work! But worth every minute of it. Here are some pics of what we've been up to this week. It's been busy for sure! I don't have time to type captions to explain the photos, but I think you can figure it out. They're all out of order too as I'm using pics from 3 different cameras.

Hugs!

Birth Story

So, here's how it all went down...

I had my last OB appt on Monday the 22nd. Monday night I had a ton of contractions, but they were random in timing and duration and were mostly in my lower abdomen. I could also talk and walk through them, so I knew it wasn't the real deal just yet, but I thought it was coming soon. So, on Tuesday morning I told B-man he needed to stay home from work because this was it! So, we walked the neighborhood and the mall trying to get things moving and nothing happened. In fact, I stopped having the contractions all together. Over the next couple of days a only had a handful of them. We were at a standstill. I couldn't believe it.

Then, on Thanksgiving night around 8 pm my stomach was hurting mostly in the upper abdomen. It kind of felt like I was getting sucker punched. I could still talk through them, but they seemed to be more organized in frequency than anything I had felt before. I still didn't think it was active labor though. BeBe went up to bed and B-man and I decided to start timing them. They were 8 minutes apart and then 3 minutes apart, averaging about 5 minutes apart over the next hour. It was becoming harder to walk through them so we finished packing our bags. I knew at this point that I was in labor, but I still thought I had a lot of time because they weren't as painful as I remembered with G-Boo. But, we're about 40 minutes from the hospital, so I wanted to make sure I got there in time. In fact I told BeBe and B-man earlier that night that I wanted 3 things to happen...1. get there on time 2. get an epidural and 3. have a fast delivery like I did with G.

Well, we arrived to the hospital about 11:35 and checked in to Labor and Delivery triage. There are 2 triage beds and they were occupied. I told them that my contractions were 5 minutes apart for an hour and about 1 minute in duration. But, I guess I didn't look like I was in that much pain, because I waited in the waiting room for an HOUR before they called me back to triage. Imagine going through labor in the waiting room of your dentist office with 2 strangers and CNN playing on the big screen TV. I was so mad that I was having to do this in the waiting room. I hadn't been checked at all and there no medical professionals in the waiting room at all.
B-man went back up to the nurses station and they said, as soon as these triage bed are open we'll get her back here. Are you kidding me?? The contractions were coming a lot faster and were more intense and longer in duration. FINALLY, they called me back and when the doc checked me he said, "Oh, you waited a long time to come in...you're 8 cm!" I made it very clear that I had been in the waiting room for an hour already! They barely got me to a delivery room before my water broke...it was looking like I wouldn't get the epidural after all! They checked me again and I was 10 cm!

I was freaking out that I would do this without pain meds. I couldn't imagine how painful it would be to push a baby into the world! I kept saying, "I can't do it!" But the nurse and doctor were encouraging me that the baby was right there and I could do it. B-man was the BEST encourager. He just kept talking to me and patting me with a cold rag (by the way, I asked for a washcloth and all they offered was a brown paper towel...). It was time to push and I think I probably pushed through about 4-5 contractions and Maggie was here!!! And I have to say that the contractions without pushing were a lot more painful than pushing through the contractions. It felt good to push.

I immediately swelled with an "I am woman hear me roar!" attitude that I had just birthed our baby girl without pain meds and had endured active labor to the disguise of everyone else b/c of my "stoic" reaction to the contractions. Ha!

Lil Bit was beautiful and BIG! 3 oz bigger than her brother!

It was an amazing experience!!

B-man was so proud of me too!

So, in the end we got there at 11:35 p.m. and Miss Bitsy was here at 1:46 a.m.
I guess 2 out of 3 of my requests isn't bad...we made it on time and it was a quick delivery. And, as it turns out, not having the epidural was okay too.

I'm rushing to type this as my time is almost up...it's time for baby girl to eat. So, please forgive any grammatical errors.