A Day at the Park

I know, I know...it's been two months since my last post. All I can say is keeping up with two kids is keeping me busy. We were able to go to the park sometime at the end of May and we had a great time. The weather was so nice and made for a pleasant day outside. Jeremiah loves playing baseball, so our first task of the afternoon was a game with dad. They had a great time pitching, hitting and running.

 

Jeremiah has some sweet friends in Mississippi that gave him the coolest Thomas the Train bubble blower. Our second task of the day was to try out his new bubble blower and even daddy joined in on the fun.

 Susannah survived her first visit to the park that day. I did manage to get a few pictures of her hanging out watching her big brother have fun.

Taking it easy

You can tell by the look on Jeremiah's face
that he really didn't want to take this picture.

King of the World (or the rock at the park)

Sitting with momma

Susannah.....Two Months

Time really flies when you are having fun.....Susannah has hit and passed the two month mark in May. She is still growing fast, developing each day and has a personality far different from her brother's. We went to the doctor for her two month checkup and she received a good report. She weighed a little over 10 lbs and measured at 20.5 inches in length. She got her second set of shots and did much better than her brother. He hid in the corner because he didn't want his little sister to get shots and cry. He has become very protective of her in the past few weeks when we are out in public. He kept trying to convince the nurse that she was ok and didn't need the shots.

Things I am doing at two months:

• I am sleeping between 4-5 hours at night and usually only get up once to eat.
• I still like my bouncer, don't care for my swing and rather be on my belly than my back.
• I focus on peoples' faces and still working on following objects. I recognize mommy's, daddy's and Jeremiah's face.
• I take the best naps in the morning time and after lunch, but ready to get up and play in the late afternoon.
• I am starting to coo and makes sounds at various times.
• I will give you a small smile after a lot of work on your part. I make you work for them.
• When on my belly, I can pick up my head and turn it from side to side. I can hold it up for a few seconds while on my belly, but still working on holding it up in the upright position.
• I am riding in the car seat like a champ now and it doesn't even bother me at night anymore.
• I am growing out of most of my newborn clothes and starting to wear 0-3 months. I still wear newborn pants, but everything else is getting too tight.
• I love my bath time!!

Ready for church

My growing girl

Last time wearing this dress, it was a little tight.

He loves to hold her in his chair.

She usually screams, but was content this time.

Daddy's Train Ride to Brookhaven

On our last trip to Brookhaven, Robert was able to ride the Amtrak train down to meet us. Jeremiah and I had been in Brookhaven a week and he was very anxious to see his daddy. This was my first trip to the new transportation center in Brookhaven and I was very impressed with the building/train platform. When Jeremiah and I rode the train home last September, they were still in the process of building the center, so we were dropped off at a box in downtown. I liked how the platform was raised to the level of the doors on the train and it was covered to protect you from the weather. I see many more train trips in our future as the kids get older.

The new transportation center in Brookhaven

A MS Blues Marker at train station -
Learn something new everytime I read one



Maw-maw and Jeremiah checking out train station

Jeremiah sporting his cardinals shirt

Oh, how sweet!!
Wasn't planned, but Robert had on his cardinals shirt that day too.

Oh, Susannah!
Taking it easy on the platform...not a care in the world

Jeremiah's Conversation w/Susannah

I'm posting this on the blog for those of you that do not have facebook accounts. I hope you enjoy!

Trip to Mississippi

It was one extra long car ride, but my sister and I survived riding twelve hours with a three year old and 2 week old infant. I was so glad to arrive at my parents that night, but Susannah let us know that she was not happy about riding in a car that long. I think she pretty much cried for about two hours straight after making it to our destination. Jeremiah was not so sure about his little sister after riding beside her for those twelve hours either. On the first stop to feed her, he asked if we could take her back to the apartment and leave her there. He did not like listening to her cry until we could find a place to stop and feed her.

We made this trip for two reasons, for Susannah to meet her great-grandmothers and extended family and to attend a church meeting with Robert. I can't believe I didn't get pictures of her with her great-grandmothers, so I will have to do better next time to get this task done.

My mom, Susan, and Susannah

Robert's mom with the kiddos

Cousin Mark with Jeremiah

Robert's Aunt Judy with Susannah

First family picture with both kids

Susannah...One Month

Yes, I know I am a little late, but our little girl hit the one month mark on April 20th. She is growing so fast and starting to develop her own little personality. We went to the doctor for her one month visit and she received a good report. I couldn't remember all the statistics on length, head circumference or weight, so I will try to write down this information next time. She did weigh 8lbs 10 oz, so she had gained around 2lbs since her one week check up. She measured at 19.25, so she grew a 1/4 inch since birth. Overall, she had a great appointment and took her first shot like a champ.

Things I am doing at 1 month:

• I am sleeping at night for about four hours solid and only getting up one time at night to eat.
• I love sitting in my bouncer during the day and can't stand my swing.
• I am starting to focus more on people and objects.
• I am still sleeping alot during the day, but starting to stay up more to play.
• I am learning to tolerate the car seat, but still hate riding in the car at night.
• I am still wearing newborn clothes and very few 0-3 months.
• I love a bath!!

It's hard to believe how fast the first month flew by and we are almost to the two month mark.

***Footprints***

If you would have asked me during my senior year of high school, I would have told you my life plans would be to teach school and have a family. It is funny to look back to that time and realize where my "feet" have taken me. I did pursue my goal of being a teacher and enjoyed the four years I spent in the classroom. However, I have gotten the greatest reward out of being a stay-at-home mom. I never considered staying home when having Jeremiah because I thought we needed two incomes to survive, I loved my job, and I just thought it would be boring. Well, the Lord had another plan for us and I'm glad we chose to take that path. Jeremiah stayed sick (including multiple hospital stays) his first two years in daycare and we decided it would be best for me to stay home with him until he reached school age. It's the best decision we ever made for our family.

Robert and I have wanted more children since Jeremiah was 6 months old, so waiting the three years was hard but worth every minute. I feel blessed that the Lord has seen fit to send us another bundle of joy. I have chosen to share details of her delivery not to get sympathy for my pain or her difficulties, but to show how something beautiful can come out of a tough journey. I will have to say that this pregnancy was much easier than Jeremiah's because I was home and not working on my feet all day. We went into the hospital on March 20th at 5:30am to get prepped for the delivery of our baby to happen at 7:30am. Everything went so smoothly with check in, surgery prep and it comes time to wheel me into the operating room. It took the anesthesiologist four tries, but he finally got the epidural in and the doctor began the procedure. Her actual birth was so smooth and we were excited to hear we had a little girl. Robert was able to go with her to the nursery while the doctor finished with me.

My husband loves our children and I didn't think anything about it when he stayed in the nursery a long time while I was in recovery. It was hard for him to leave Jeremiah when he was born, so I just figured he was spending lots of time with Susannah. His face told a different story upon entering the recovery room that day and I knew things hadn't went well in the nursery. While the doctor was delivering Susannah, it turns out that she swallowed a good bit of fluid and was having a difficult time maintaining her blood oxygen level. They had to put her on oxygen to help her breathing and we would just have to wait to see what would happen. Surprisingly, I stayed pretty strong during the whole ordeal and tried to encourage him. We had been through oxygen level issues with Jeremiah, so we knew what they were talking about and that it would just take time to resolve the issue. I guess the hard part for me was that I couldn't see her and I was having my own issues with a bad reaction to the anesthesia, while Robert was able to go anytime to visit her. While in recovery, my face started to itch so bad and I started getting very nauseated. My recovery nurse said there were only two side effects to the medicine and I had gotten both of them. My symptoms lasted the whole day, but they were able to give me some medicine to help with them.

I had a wonderful recovery nurse and when it was time to go to my room upstairs, she wheeled my whole bed into the nursery so I could get to see my daughter. It was the nicest gesture and gave me some peace just being able to see her for myself. Susannah ended up having to stay in the nursery until 1:00am the next day. Even though I just had surgery, I was able to get in a wheelchair on Tuesday afternoon to go downstairs to see her and nurse her twice. I still could not tell you how I mustered up the strength to do that, but by saying it was adrenaline and being blessed. It was a huge relief to have her in the room with us that next day and she has done wonderful since that day. She has the best daddy in the world because he spent most of Tuesday going from my room to the nursery every thirty minutes to check on us. If you tried getting in touch with us on Tuesday, now you know why it might have taken us a little while to get back to you.

With all that happened that day, I would not trade our journey from trying to conceive until the day of her birth for anything in this world. I look at her everyday and ask Robert what we did to deserve such a beautiful gift and he replies "nothing". So, our "feet" may take us on a path not planned, but it is worth the blessing in the end. I feel blessed to have a family that I can stay-at-home with to take care of and make sweet memories with on a daily basis. I couldn't do a post without pictures, so here are a few of our angel below.

Susannah taking it easy on the couch.

Mommy and Susannah with her footprint on the hospital wall.

Daddy and Susannah with her footprint