We had an eventful Anniversary weekend!  A normal trip to Seattle takes 2 hours, after 5.5 hours we finally made it... after canceling our evening plans with our friends since it was getting too late and we missed half of the horse races, we finally made it to our hotel.  Jessy was a dream the entire weekend though. We bundled her up and took her for a walk in the Seattle evening to get take out food.  

I had our hotel room filled with cheese and crackers, chocolate covered strawberries, champagne, even had a wedding cake made.  We were so exhausted after the trip that we fell asleep only to wake and eat it all for breakfast!

A little cracker with your cheese

We went shopping for a few hours and then headed off to the Mariners game during one of the worst storms of the year.  But we were bundled and cozy!

Happy Anniversary

Today is our One Year Wedding Anniversary.  I love my husband so much.  He is such a patient, gentle, loving man.  We were a bit crazy for getting pregnant on our wedding night, so much for that first year of wedded bliss!  Pregnancy hormones for 9 months then the baby arriving and sleepless nights.  Never did he complain or say a negative word.  

Honey, I love you and I’m sorry for all the times I went crazy snapped at you from being sleep deprived.  I can honestly say that I love you more today than I did a year ago.  You are my best friend and there is no one else in the world that I would want to go through these sleepless nights with!  Now if only you could breastfeed….

Since we've only had one date since our little munchkin was born, my husband and I decided to have Friday lunch dates.  It was a beautiful day on Friday so we met in the park and had a picnic.  I have to admit it felt just a little bit strange being together with no baby!

This weekend I started cleaning out the flower pots and bringing in the fall with a few decorations inside and out.  Of course Sunday is football so we had a great relaxing day with plenty of naps and a few flying lessons!

Pretty sure she's going through a growth spurt and gaining by the hour!

We are finally on the mend from the whole house being sick!  We had to take off a day of work, Daddy took the morning shift and I took the afternoon.  We worked hard to get our little girl rested and pampered.  I can tell she is feeling better as her sleep times are increasing as well as her nap times, she can finally breathe!  

GO SEAHAWKS!

She found her feet this week!

I'm learning from her every day.  Like no matter how stuffy your nose is or how tired you are, always have a smile or giggle for the person in your life.  Even at 3am.

I like to keep things positive but sometimes my husband says I should write about the not so good things too.  So I’m going to put them all in one post and get it over with!

Birth experience. 

I went into labor on a Monday morning about 1am.  After going to work for an hour at 6am to get my affairs in order (yes I’m that crazy) I came home to labor as much as possible.  My husband went to work and came home at lunch time.  We were heading to the hospital by 2:30 that afternoon. 

I labored in the tub for awhile and that really made the contractions come on strong.  I had back labor and my baby was sunny side up so for the next 9 hours I stood leaned over the bed with every contraction trying to get her to turn.  About midnight the nurse came in and said that the on-call doctor was in an emergency surgery and that I would have to stay at a 9 and not push till she got out, about two hours.  You can imagine what was going through my mind.  I asked her if she could deliver the baby herself and she said not if its sunny side up.  I was so crushed that I was going to have to get an epidural because no one in their right mind can stay at a 9 and not push.  In hindsight I wish I had just pushed the baby out and they would have to figure it out. 

So I got the epidural and the doctor was in two back-to-back surgeries for 5 hours.  I was thinking it was a good thing that I got the epidural at that point.  We were just waiting for her for HOURS.  Well the epidural made my uterus stop contracting.  Nothing could get it going right, not even the highest dose of pitocin.  My oxygen levels fell, they were talking about extracting the baby and I said no way!  I’ll push this baby out myself, I didn’t know that was possible… but I was going to find out!  They were worried I was going to hemorrhage so had the backup drugs and doctors ready to go.  Of course there was a team of prayer warriors praying me through. 

This experience even though very frightening at the time was a complete miracle. I know the doctor and nurse were pretty darned surprised about the whole thing.  My telling of this is to say if you are in the same situation, you CAN push the baby out without the help of interventions.  It takes everything you have but it is possible.

And in case your wondering my husband wants to deliver the next one himself.  He watched it all being done and says he knows exactly what to do. 

Breastfeeding

I've said I've been through everything possible.  Mastitis, Milk blister, clogged ducts, Thrush, oversupply, undersupply, latch problems, pumping. If you have any questions, I'm here to help! I'm still going strong.

Daycare

So our baby has been in Daycare a total of 7 days and they have forgotten to feed her TWICE!!  I can’t tell you how incredibly mad I am about this whole situation and there are circumstances behind each one but the latest is she put the bottle in the fridge and forgot it was there!  This is a good place it just seems like the bad things are happening to us.  So I’ve gotten permanent bright colored labels to put on the bottles instead of them using their own so hopefully they will notice. 

Snotty noses

This I hate more than anything, I feel completely hopeless.  She can’t breathe, she chokes, it’s just the saddest  thing!  At least we got the best snot sucker EVER. If you have a baby, GET ONE OF THESE!

That's all for my negative posts for the year!  

The love for your child.  It’s unlike anything I have ever experienced before.  It’s so deep, so bonded, so primal.  It’s not emotional, it’s not intellectual, it’s in your very soul, it’s in your DNA. 

All of a sudden your total existence is for this little girl and nothing for yourself matters, not food, attention, sleep, pedicures! You don’t care about anything for yourself, only to make that baby smile. I could be awake for hours but then take another 20 minutes to just watch her sleeping before tucking her back into bed. 

So the thought continues to play in my mind.  God gave his only son…

I thought I knew God’s love for us, but having a baby really put that into prospective.  I would kill for my child. I would die for my child.  He GAVE his child… for us.  

Things we learned this labor day weekend.

The lead singer from The Spin Doctors can do an excellent rockettes style kick while wearing skinny jeans and does a mean jazz hands.

Dad's chest is the best place to be in the sunshine.

And if you go to grandma's house and fall asleep, be expecting M&M's to be stuffed in your ears... by grandma!