Question?

What do you get when you combine the following things for just a second?

-A full tummy
-A Soothie
-A Sound Machine
-A Boppy

Any ideas?

I'm sure you could guess this...

Seriously, I turned my back for a second and this happened.  She NEVER falls asleep that quickly.  She fights it for a long, long time.  Guess, I'll have to remember this combo and see if it works again next time.

Oh - the sound machine was set to the ocean waves - you think she'll actually sleep at the beach when we go this summer?

Maybe this summer but next summer we'll have to chase her I'm sure! Can't wait!

A Donation

If you've known me for a while, you know my hair is long.  Really long for me.  I probably mentioned once (or twice) that my plan was to eventually donate my hair. 

Well the time has come... It's gone.

Before I left to get my hair chopped, I wanted to document just how long my hair really was.

Here's a picture -


Shoot, I forgot to look away from the live view screen.


















Ok - let's try that again.


Am I looking?  I can't tell.


















Come on, get it together.

Oops, I overadjusted. I didn't want half the ceiling.

Really?  Have you ever used this camera before?

Almost perfect, but the perfectionist in me can't live with that.

One mores shot - Anna's tired of posing.


finally.


















So that was before.

Are you ready for after picture?

Don't get me wrong, I like the new haircut but 10 inches is a lot of hair....

Pretty, huh?  Pretty short! :)

Tomorrow I'm off to the post office to put my ponytail in the mail.

Rewind to L&D

I want to share this with you for a couple of reasons. Some of you have asked, but more importantly, I don’t want to ever forget that day. Here goes…


Our hope was to have an all natural birth.

We knew that with my sensitivities to just about everything it would be better for me and there would also be benefits for the baby. We knew it would be the hardest thing we would ever do so we prepared. We prepared for our roles during labor and delivery, laboring mom and coach. We took a class, and we read lots of books. Six, I think. We had homework, and we practiced relaxation and labor positions. We ate well, took vitamins, and exercised. We talked about lots of scenarios and how we could stay focused on our goal if things didn’t go as planned. We read more books. We watched a movie of the real thing. We talked about our hopes for the birth. We prayed. We did everything we could to meet our goal of a natural birth.

And then my water broke early at 38 weeks, so much for first babies coming late. Did I mention there were no contractions? Well there weren’t at 4:30am when my water broke, there weren’t contractions at 10:30am when we called the midwife, there weren’t contractions at 1:00pm when we went to see the midwife, and there definitely weren’t any contractions at 3:00pm when we started pitocin. So now you are thinking what’s natural about pitocin? Well not much other than it does what my body should have been doing when my water broke, it starts contractions. Our plan was to stay home and wait for strong contractions to start before going into the hospital. However, due to me testing positive for GBS (whole other story) our baby had to be born within 24 hours of my water breaking. With no contractions 12 hours in this was going to be almost impossible so we had to get the ball rolling to avoid putting our baby in any danger.  Believe me, we talked with the midwife about every option but in the end we decided this was our option like it or not. (Not!)

So at 3:00pm the pitocin drip started and we were on our way to having a baby. My body responded to the pitocin almost immediately, contractions picked up and started a steady pattern. As soon as the drip started, I forgot about it. Well I couldn’t really forget about the IV stand I had to drag with me wherever I went, but I forgot about the pitocin. This was labor for us, no way to change it at that point, and no reason to focus on what started it. We were going to be all natural from there on out.

Labor was tough, like we thought, it was the hardest thing we had ever done. The first stage of labor lasted seven hours with transition lasting only 30 minutes. The only comfortable position we found was standing up leaning over the bed. Believe me, we tried everything. The nurse and midwife were great and suggested many different positions to try but nothing worked. So we labored standing up for seven hours. The second stage of labor or the pushing stage came as a relief for two reasons. One - I pushed lying down on my side which meant I could rest in between contractions and Two - I could do something productive with each contraction. During a contraction I pushed to the point of comfort – no counting to ten for us – and sipped water or rested in between. This pattern continued for an hour and forty-five minutes until she was born and I helped bring her up to my chest. There she was wide eyed and alert taking in the world. Allen and I were awestruck the minute we saw her. Love at first sight. Anna was born at 11:13pm. Healthy (truth) and perfect (opinion).


Here we are 10 minutes after Anna was born.



So there you have it our natural labor story. Yes, there are many details I left out, but you get the picture - WE. DID. IT.

Maybe you are wondering why I used the pronoun we? I honestly believe that I could not have done this by myself. To be honest, there were times I didn’t think I could do it period. During the hardest part of labor (transition), I doubted myself big time. And no one, not even me, thought that I was more capable of natural birth than Allen. His belief that I could do it was unwavering and I knew that. I could feel that. When I questioned it, he reinforced to me all the reasons it was possible and was going to happen. In the L&D room, we worked as a team, we were one. Yes, I was the one with the contractions, and I was the one pushing however I had Allen’s unending support and strength. Using all that WE had, was the only way. I felt so much stronger than I ever expected I would for labor. I know this was because I hadn’t counted on his contribution. Who knew that I could (and would) use his strength as well? After Anna was born, we were both exhausted. Allen’s exhaustion showed how much he gave throughout the day. Like I said, we did it.

I know that I’ve not done justice to our story but I’ve attempted to share it with you nonetheless.

I’ll leave you with these three thoughts -

You are only as good as the coach thinks you are. Brian Williams

Set your goals high, and don't stop till you get there. Bo Jackson

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Philippians 4:14



my 2 favorite people

Singing along to one of their favorite songs...

daddy daughter time

laughing with him or maybe at him...

All Grown UP

NEWS FLASH --- Sleepers out. Cute dresses and real outfits in! 

The Cooper Clan sent this adorable dress and it finally fits! But I was afraid her legs would be cold.... so of course she has jeggins under the dress.

Whatta ya know -she's hip!

I'm not sure what to think about this outfit though?!

One one hand it's adorable (x10) and on the other it makes her look so old!

hmmm.

Well her opinion is obvious...

Don't worry Anna, you still get to wear the sleepers.

I was just teasing with the news flash.

Actually to be fair to the outfit, she was asleep less than four minutes after this picture was taken.  This cry had nothing to do with the outfit and everything to do with being tired. On that note, please excuse the pictures. I know they aren't the best but someone wasn't thrilled with a photo shoot this morning. She had already had a bath which was challenging by myself. She held up pretty well and I don't think she ate too much soap but she was worn out from the bath.  Or maybe I'm worn out from her bath and she's not so grown up after all and just a baby ready for her nap.

Tummy time

Tummy time gone wrong.

The other day while Anna and I were using Skype to talk to my parents,

I laid her on her stomach to show them how strong her neck is getting.

Well, she had other plans....she laid down her head and went to sleep. 

This was a first because typically she doesn't like her stomach and cries. A lot.

I didn't let her sleep there long because she insisted on keeping her face in the blanket.  Everytime I would gently turn it to the side, she would get comfy again

face down in the blanket.

Crazy? maybe. Stubborn? yes.

Gotcha!

Simple

Memories

I

Love

Everday!

New Friends & Great-Grandmothers

This past weekend we took our first road trip with Anna, and more importantly survived!  The two hour car ride there was super easy, and she slept the whole way.  Our first night in a different house went smoothly, if you consider five nursing sessions in ten hours smooth!  Ha - it actually went really well, she was just a bit hungry.  Allen had a meeting all day in Clemson on Friday, so Anna and I watched TV.  Since this is a luxury that we don't have at home, I vegged and flipped between TLC shows and Teen Mom 2 on MTV.  I know it's trash but it was like a car accident, I couldn't look away.  I'm not sure I'm cut out for watching any baby shows on TLC anymore. Everytime a baby was born I teared up - is this how it is for moms forever? Or is it just new moms?

Friday afternoon we took Anna to meet one of her Great-Grandmothers.  Allen's Grandmother is going to be 88 next weekend, and Anna is her ninth (I think) great grandchild.  It is so fun introducting Anna to family members.  I'm very proud of my roles within my family - I love being a wife, a daughter, a sister, a niece, a cousin, a granddaughter, and now a mom.  It makes my heart happy to think about where I fit into my family.  I love all the relationships and connections I have with them.  The memories that go with each role fill my mind and heart with such happy thoughts.  I think this is one of the most important things we can give Anna, and it's already been given, a special place within our family.  She now is a daughter, a niece, a cousin, a granddaughter, and a great granddaughter.   I hope that when she's my age she will take as much pride as I do in each of those roles, and that she will have as many happy memories as I do.

Friday night we had dinner with some great friends, and introduced Anna to a new friend.  They have a little boy who is almost five months old, and he was so intrigued by Anna.  He is one of the most smiley kids, if not the most smiley kid I have ever met.  As soon as we walked in, he flashed his gorgeous smile.  Combine his smile with his sparkly eyes, the girls are going to have trouble resisting his charm! :)  Anyway, he was very interested in Anna whether she was fussy or calm, he watched her.  We took pictures and got a good one but I couldn't resist this one where Anna stole everyone's attention away from the camera guys.  We've got our hands full with this little one.  But maybe we started that with with all the pictures....

 

The two kids are off to a great friendship - they are already sharing!  Anna got to try out his swing while we were visiting and it was love at first site. It was such a bad case that Anna is now the proud owner of a swing.  With an awesome deal, a coupon, and a gift card, the swing cost us all of $1.53!  I guess since we bought a swing like our friends have you could say, "we are keeping up with the Joneses!"  haha Anyway, the kids are only a few months apart and I can't wait until they can really play together - it should be fun!  Wonder which one will talk more?

3 Topics

I struggled to name this post, because there were so many topics wrapped up in one.

Options included -

Finally some sun!

Total Distraction

Red, Red, Red hair.

Finally some sun!

As you've heard, seen, or lived through, the South was hit with some winter weather this week.  Schools have been closed all week and the roads only look ok today, three days after the storm.  We got a few inches here and then quite a bit of ice on top.  The ice and continued cold temps are causing all the problems now.  We enjoyed being "snowed" in at the beginning of the week but we were happy to see the sun shining today.  Anna LOVES to sleep in the sun.  This is a bad habit she inherited from me. I used to sleep in the living room at my parents house on the floor by the floor to ceiling windows all the time.  It's so cozy in the sun. Anna's pack n play moves around with the sun from room to room and where ever it ends up gets called her sunroom.

Total Distraction

So today when Allen laid Anna down in her sunroom, she was so cute I had to get the camera out.  This is where the distraction comes into play.  How am I supposed to get work down when she is sleeping or better yet sleep while she is sleeping when she looks like this?  Seriously, I wish there was a camera attached to my face so I could capture every look, smile, gesture, etc. that I see everyday.  Wouldn't that be fabulous?  I would be able to capture each sweet moment I share with her throughout the day to remember these times forever.  The camera is never in the right room and if it is in the right room it's out of reach.  I'm sure you think we have taken plenty of pictures but to addicts like us, there's always one more to take.  When she's asleep and the light is right, it's so tempting to snap away.  It is our chance to play with the camera in an attempt to get that perfect shot.  One thing I always try to capture is the hair, the style, the fluffiness, and of course the color.  Today the conditions were perfect for the hair.

Red, Red, Red hair.

Every day that passes brings out more red in her hair.  At first it only looked red in certain light, then it also looked red when it was freshly washed and fluffy, and then it started looking red in more types of light especially daylight, and now well it looks red most of the time because well, look at it!

Both of us had strawberry blond hair at some point growing up and there are relatives spread out

throughout both our family trees with red hair.  We knew red hair was a possibility and often joked about our little red head.  There is no denying it - she is here and she has red hair. 

Hope she likes it too!

So what's in a name anyway?

Many of you asked if we had a name picked out throughout our pregnancy and our standard answer was - No.

This was pretty true.  We didn't agree on many names - luckily we only had to agree on one.  I would toss names out as suggestions and get some of the funniest looks.  Honest, they weren't that weird, I'm a traditional name kind of person.  We both wanted something that we would call them on an every day basis - we didn't want to give them one name and call them something else.  I'm drawn to short names.  Classic names.  Names that have some meaning.  We (I) thought about using a family name, but we didn't agree on any of those.

Here's a conversation from one morning when I was about 6 or 7 months pregnant -

A- I shouldn't tell you this but...

K- What? Was I snoring again? (my constant fear towards the end of pregnancy)

A- I had a dream that we named her Anna Noel.

K- Do you like it? (I liked it.)

A- Yea, I like it.

K- Do we have a name?

A- I think so.

So that day I Googled it of course - no weird results came up.  I also wrote it - it looked good.  I wrote her initials and her monogram to make sure they didn't spell something awful or embarrassing.  I also said it a million and one times.  Did I like it? Did it work with our last name?  Could I imagine saying, whispering, yelling it, cheering it,etc.  Yes, Yes, and Yes!!

I think the best part about this name is the meaning.  I didn't look at meanings to pick a name, but at the same time I was always interested in the meaning of names I liked.  So, what does Anna mean?  Depends on where you look for an exact definition, but grace is always invovled. 

 

Meanings of Anna -

Grace or Favor, Gracious or Merciful, One who gives, Full of Grace

Taking it one step further, here are some definitions of grace -

elegance or beauty of form, favor or good will, mercy, the freely given, unmerited favor and love of God.

Perfect. Anyway you look at it, what a beautiful message to give her at the moment of her birth for her to carry throughout her life.

So Anna, there you have it.  Your daddy named you and we couldn't be happier with you OR your name.

See ya next Christmas!

We had our final Christmas celebration on Sunday with some of our good friends.  
It was good to catch up, and a great way to wrap up the holiday season.

What can I say? They love her so much, we couldn't get them to smile at the camera! :) 


So with our Christmases officially over, I have no excuse now for leaving the decorations up. Hmm, I guess that will be a chore this week. Poor Anna, she doesn't know our house without the decorations.  Each night Allen's been holding her near our tree so she can see the lights.  He reminds her that they won't be there forever, so she has to enjoy them now.  So sweet.

Christmas is always special but WOW every Christmas from now on has a lot to live up to -
a new baby, first Christmas at our house, a baby, snowy Christmas in NC, a baby, lots of family at our house, a baby, first Christmas Eve service at our own church, a brand new lovely baby....

I can't wait for Chrismas 2011!  My mom tells the story that the day they put the tree up for my first Chrismas was the day I first walked.  Nothing like a little motivation to get me moving.  I was eleven months, and Anna will be a year when ours goes up.  Hmm, what comes around goes around right?

So - see ya next Christmas!

The Witching Hour

Every baby has their time, and Anna's time is anywhere between 8 and 11 at night.   "The Witching Hour" as I have nicknamed it.  Somewhere in that timeframe, she's going to be fussy.  We try all the tricks - rocking, singing, swaying, pacifier, bouncing, shhhsing, lights out, lights on, daddytime, mamatime, standing up, sitting down, diaper changing, etc. 

So what works?  Wouldn't you know it, as soon as that diaper is off, we have a happy baby who just wants to play!  Seriously?!?! Our kid's fussy time is because she just wants to be naked?!  Throughout the day, diaper changes are always pleasant, Anna really doesn't mind it.  She only fusses a little at the end when the diaper has to go back on.  But at night the difference between diaper on and diaper off is day and well night.  She LOVES it.  So of course we indulge her and give her some "free" time.  Sure it's burned us and we've had some explosions and fountains to clean up, but who can resist a happy playful baby? Not us!

Anna doesn't really play with toys yet.  It's kinda of hard to play with toys when you don't even realize you have hands... :)  So we have these little rattles that you can put on a baby's wrists so they don't have to hold on but they can make some noise.  During Anna's "free" time, she kicks her legs like crazy.  Up and down, side to side, one at a time, or both at once, you get the picture. 

So I thought - why not put the rattles on her ankles?

She's a one man band! 

Complete with happy baby nosies and an occasional case of the hiccups.

Playtime

 Anna and I had some playtime today.

What does that mean for a month old and her mama?  It means she had some tummy time on her playmat, and I had some photographer time.  Anna needs tummy time to work on her neck muscles, and tummy time can be completed in five easy steps.

 Step 1 - Preparing for the big feat. "You want me to do what?"

 Step 2 - Lift Off!  "See, I can too do it."

Step 3 - Exhaustion. "Don't ever make me do that again!"

 Step 4 - Possible second attempt?  Nah, just more exhaustion.  "I told you, I don't want to do it again."

Step 5 - Mama to the rescue.  "Ahh, now I feel better." 

Anna x 2 = my favorite picture of the day.

Credit

In an earlier post, I claimed that Anna was a mini me - here's that post. 

However, I now have photo evidence to disput that claim. 

Anna certainly has a bit of her dad's looks as well.

To quote him, "I finally get some credit."

Early Retirement

A few of Anna's newborn outfits have been forced into early retirement by the cloth diapers.  She doesn't fill them out but there's a lot of diaper fluff taking up space! In fact, take away the diaper and there's nothing to hold on to. She's very lanky.  Not many baby fat rolls yet.  Just a few on her legs - 5 on the left and 4 on the right.  Yes, I counted - she's cute wouldn't you?  Thinking about it now, she has a big belly too but really she'd fit in all of the newborn clothes if not for the cloth diapers.  The diaper fluff is cute but it certainly is a part of Anna now. The fluff even comes into play when it's not there. We given up on baths for Anna.  Don't worry she's not a dirty baby - she gets showers now.  So much easier and she doesn't mind them at all.  The only hard part is no diaper fluff means no handle. She doesn't squirm much in there, and this is good because she's so slippery without a handle it is tough!

Anyway back to the early retirement - I had to put away newborn size onesies because of the fluff.

Or so I thought.

Yesterday while running errands I had to change her diaper and I only had a disposable in the diaper bag so that's what she got.  I commented to Allen later that we had better finish up the last few newborn disposables because they don't fit so well anymore.  Hmm.

And then this morning we had Anna's one month check up - early retirement- HA - this girl is growing like crazy!!! It is flat out retirement for the newborn stuff.  At birth Anna weighed in at 6 lbs 10 oz.  Leaving the hospital she was 6 lbs 2 oz. 

So how much do you think she weighs now a month later? 

8 lbs 15oz!! That's one ounce shy of 9 lbs. 

No wonder some clothes don't fit! Woah Anna - no more worrying if she's getting enough breastmilk. :)  I guess I should give those few fat rolls on her legs and her big belly some of the credit for retiring those outfits.

I can't say that moving on to new clothes makes me sad - it's kinda exciting - there's cute things in the closet in the 0-3 month size.  (These outfits are in part to some of you readers- Thanks!) 

Maybe as more of these first outfits get too small, I'll feel a tug at my heart but for now I'm just really excited!  Go Anna!






















Look at that hair - ha!   "Girl, your hair is ridiculous."

definitions

definition - A statement of the exact meaning of a word, esp. in a dictionary.
example - see below

sprawl out - To spread oneself out casually while lounging. 
example - Anna before bed last night.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
like father, like daughter - In the same manner from generation to generation.
example - Such serious expressions before our walk.




















 
hide your head in the sand - to refuse to think about an unpleasant situation.
example - Anna thinking (or not) about waking up after a nap.
 

 

January 2

All good things must come to an end and today was the start of it all.  After spending almost a week at our house, my parents went home on the 30th.  We enjoyed having them here and it was really nice to share Anna's first Christmas with them.  Anna may not remember this Christmas but we took plenty of pictures to show her. 

So today the last of our visitors left, Monday is back to a regular work schedule for Allen, and Anna is a month old today!! Wow, time flies when you are changing diapers.

Anna's finished stocking!

A new development....

Sometimes the pacifier is just what the baby wants but other times she spits it out like in this picture.  She will only take the soothie sometimes and she only takes it for a few minutes but it can ceratainly calm her down in those instances. 

Hopefully later today we'll be able to take some nice pictures for Anna's month birthday!