Lainey's first Christmas

We had a wonderful first Christmas with our sweet girl! We started celebrating Thursday with my Nannie, my parents and little brother. We had tons of yummy treats and opened presents at our house so that Lainey wouldn't have to go anywhere in the car. Lainey loved meeting her Uncle Wade and spending time with everyone. That night we drove over to Cypress for the annual Francies Christmas party. We had so much fun at our friends Lyndsay and George's house. We had a gingerbread house decorating contest, ate amazing Christmas goodies once again and then had a very fun gift exchange with everyone. It was a blast!

On Friday we headed over to Mimi and Grandaddy's house in Houston and checked in to our hotel. We got to spend time with the entire Wade side of the family that night. We all went out to a Hibachi grill for dinner, played bunco and enjoyed catching up with everyone. It was wonderful to get to meet Lainey's two baby cousins Joseph and Benjamin, who were just adopted from Ethopia in September. They are 9 months old and so precious.

On Saturday we spent time with my family until about 2:00 and then headed over to Brian's parents for presents, dinner and a candlelight service at church. Lainey got to spend some time with her cousin Ashtyn and we all enjoyed fajitas for dinner. It was nice. After dinner we headed back to my grandparents house to hang out for a little while before the kids went to bed and then the adults enjoyed some time with Lainey.

On Sunday we went to breakfast at Mimi and Grandaddy's and spent time looking at what Santa had brought. We enjoyed some more love from our Wade family and then headed back to Brian's parents for church. Brian's mom has really been wanting to show Lainey off at church so we figured Christmas Day was the perfect time. After church we went back to Mimi and Grandaddy's for lunch and then hung our with everyone the rest of the afternoon. It was exhausting driving back and forth, but both families got to spend time with Lainey on her first Christmas so it was very worth it. We had 23 people at Mimi and Grandaddy's this year and everyone took turns loving on our girl. We are so blessed to have the amazing family that we do and truly enjoyed our first Christmas with Lainey. Hope you all enjoyed yours too!!

Lainey with my sweet Nannie!

Nannie got Lainey a bear that plays peek-a-boo! So much fun!

Mimi and Grandaddy provide lots of entertainment and love for Miss Lainey

Annalee wanted to make an "Oreo" with Lainey and the boys so we did! Too cute!

My precious Aunt Julie with Lainey! She has prayed for Lainey since before she was born.

Lainey's cute Christmas Eve outfit!

She is starting to smile more and more.

Heather, Mike and Ashtyn with Lainey

Jonathon, Jodie, Nathan and Anne came all the way from North Carolina to meet Lainey and the  twins.

Christmas Morning!!

My parents and brother with Lainey Christmas morning.

Lainey and her Joyz!

Brian's mom with her two girls.

Happy 7 Year Anniversary

December 19th we celebrated 7 years of marriage. God knew what he was doing when he put Brian in my life seven years ago. We only dated for three weeks before we were engaged and ended up getting married just 6 months later. People thought we were crazy and would never make it, but seven years later we are still going strong. I loved Brian so much when we got married, but love him so much more today. He is an amazing husband and a wonderful daddy to our sweet girl. His love for kids is what was so attractive about him when we met. That as well as his willingness to carry my pink backpack around while I directed summer camp for inner-city teenagers was what made me know he was a keeper. :)  (He's still carrying around pink backpacks today. However, now they are for Lainey, not for me.) I am so blessed to have him in my life!!

We also celebrated Lainey's two month birthday the 19th. We prayed for God to let us be parents for years before we actually had her, but as always, he had a plan. She has blessed our life in so many ways and brings so much joy to our life.

2 Month Check Up

Lainey had her two month check up today which was very tough for momma. She got her first round of shots and of course screamed which brought me to tears with her. I'm very thankful for vaccinations that keep kids from getting really sick, I just wish there was another way to get them. She was not a fan.

She is now 10 lbs. and 15 ounces, and 22 inches long. She's in the 35th percentile for height and 45th percentile for weight. I'm afraid she may be short like her mom.

I continue to love our doctor more and more. He's very attentive and so good with Lainey. He explains everything very well and makes me feel much more at ease. Today he did find something kind of scary, he noticed that Lainey had developed a heart murmur. He said that he wasn't going to worry too much just yet, but if it was still there or had changed by her next appointment he would have to send her to Texas Children's Hospital to have an echocardiogram to make sure something major was not wrong. That worries me, but I know God will take care of this precious baby girl.  Other than that, all was well. She did so good and looked adorable! She's been fussy this afternoon, but I've given her tylenol and will just keep watching her. Hopefully she won't be too miserable this weekend. We had hoped to enjoy some family time since Brian will finally be off of work. Yeah!!

She did so good letting Dr. Watson listen to her heart.

Home sweet home after shots!

Reindeer Shirts

A few weeks ago we had a girls craft night at church to make all of our little ones reindeer shirts. Last night at church some of them wore them and they were just precious! I'm thankful for the big girls that held Lainey so she could be in the picture. They did great. You can tell this photo session was a little hectic, but so cute! I'm thankful for the sweet friends Lainey will have growing up. What a blessing. 

Santa!!

Today we went to the library to meet Santa with Mrs. Jess, Kinley and Jaxon. We also got to see Mrs. Amanda, Jake and Seth and Mrs. Jessica, Julia and Jordan. It was quite an adventure. Santa put on a magic show, read all of the kids a story, had yummy treats for everyone and even took pictures with each kid. It was wonderful and such a fun first outing with all of Lainey's friends. I'm so glad she's getting to the age that we are comfortable leaving our house to go have some social time. We look forward to many more fun times. Here are a few pictures from today. 

She actually slept through part of it! 

I think I was more excited about seeing Santa than Lainey!

Precious girl!

Kinley did so great holding Lainey!!  

It's official... I'm going to stay home with Lainey!

Before Brian and I got married we decided that we would like for me to stay home once we had children. I admire moms that can juggle working and their families, but I've always known that would be a challenge for me. Since we found out we were pregnant I've been torn about this because of the financial struggle I knew we would face. I'm a very frugal person, but it's no secret that teachers don't exactly make a ton of money and with Lainey our health insurance will now be $650 a month. Yikes! Needless to say I've struggled to decide what would be best for us. After much thought and prayer I've decided that although it will be a huge financial challenge, I just can't leave Lainey with someone else in January. I don't want to ever regret not having this time with her so I am just going to try to live as frugally as possible for the next few years. I talked to my principal today and let him know that I would not be returning in four weeks as planned and he was so supportive. He obviously didn't want me to leave, but agreed to let me out of my contract which will allow me to work in Conroe ISD again if I want to in the future. I am very thankful for that. It's a bittersweet feeling because I do love teaching. However, at this point of my life I love my little one so much more and know that I will enjoy spending time with her as she begins to grow up. I may only get to be home for a couple of years, but for now we are going to soak up every moment!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

I absolutely love this time of year. We always go get our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving and put all of our Christmas decorations out on Friday. We listen to Christmas music and watch whatever Christmas movie I want. I love it!! Yesterday we did just that, but this time we got to take Lainey along for the ride. She was a great sport while we picked out our Christmas tree and loved watching the living room be decorated. She has been staring at the lights since we put them up and I'm pretty sure she even loved the Christmas music. My mom got her a little pink Christmas tree for her room and she's loved looking at that too.

 I cannot wait for all of the holiday fun we will have this year. Today we enjoyed an afternoon with our friends Jeremy and Amanda and their sweet boys. Amanda was sweet enough to take a couple of pictures of us with Lainey's first Christmas tree. I'm sure there will be many more pictures posted in the next month, but here are the first. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Lainey's first Christmas tree!!

We love our sweet girl!

Brian is already wrapped around Lainey's little finger. We are in trouble.

This is pretty much the look we get every time we pull out the camera. :) 

Mommy's girl!

Happy Thanksgiving

God is so good! We are so blessed to have our little miracle in our life this Thanksgiving. There are so many things to be thankful for, but our sweet Lainey is at the top of our list. A year ago doctors told us we might never have a baby on our own. It was such a tough period of life. Now, we are loving every minute of life with our sweet five week old. She is one amazing girl and we are SO thankful for her. Today we spent the day with Brian's parents. It was the smallest Thanksgiving I've ever had, but it was nice. My parents also came by to see her tonight. Tomorrow we plan to put up our tree and Christmas decorations and enjoy the day. It's been so nice to have Brian off this week. We are enjoying our time with daddy. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

One Month Old!!

Lainey loves to read books while hanging out on her newborn lounger.

I get this bright eyed stare a lot! 

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One of Lainey's many crazy faces.

My favorite little curious look. She's always trying to figure out what is going on.

Today is Lainey's one month birthday. She is finally almost out of her newborn diapers and her newborn clothes are getting a little snug. Her zero to three month clothes are huge, so we are struggling to dress her right now. :) Lainey still loves to be held all the time and is very social. She sleeps anywhere from 2-6 hours straight at night, but will not sleep in her crib or her pack and play. She wants to be snuggled up next to one of us, so until she's six weeks old we are allowing it. We are really going to try to work on this over Thanksgiving break, but the poor kiddo screams if she's not with us so we aren't really sure what to do since we also need sleep. Once Lainey is awake in the morning she doesn't usually go back to sleep for about four hours. She loves to read books, look in the mirror, swing in her swing, play on her play mat and get ready with mom in her baby bjorn. She looks at everything and really notices sounds as well. I talk to her all morning and she loves it. Lainey is doing so much better about not screaming when she gets her diaper changed and we are very thankful for that. Baths are also getting better. It's been such an amazing month, we are still learning so much about her, but we have learned what her cries mean and that's helped so much. She is such a fun little girl and is so active. We can't wait to see what all she begins to do in this second month.

Loving Life!

Life with Lainey has been such a joy but also a challenge. Our sweet girl is not a huge fan of sleep or of any alone time. She wants to be held all of the time, which I love until laundry piles up or dishes need to be done. Everyone I've talked to has told me to enjoy every moment of time with her because she won't be tiny enough to snuggle with forever. So, rather than making her scream when I put her down I've been enjoying lots of time snuggling with our long awaited blessing. She may be spoiled, but she will also never doubt that she's loved. :)

At two weeks old we've made several trips out of the house to church, the grocery store and to doctor's appointments. However, most of the time we hang out here. There are so many germs and I think even though I've been careful she still may have a cold. If she doesn't sound better in the morning I may have to call her doctor. Lainey has slept for up to six hours at night and she's also stayed awake until 5:00am before falling asleep. It all depends on the day. She is very active and alert when she is awake. She loves to look around and examine the world. She also loves when people talk or sing to her and riding in her baby bjorn. Lainey does not enjoy getting her diaper changed or changing clothes. This is a shame because she has so many cute clothes that I'd love to dress her up in. We will continue to work on it, but for now she is not a huge fan.

Lainey LOVES her daddy and is always so excited to see him when he gets home. She knows his voice and calms down when she hears it. We've gone to visit him at work a couple of days that she was very unhappy and it's really helped. The poor kid has horrible tummy problems and has to take gas drops several times a day to keep from being miserable. Even with the meds, some days she still just screams in pain. It breaks my heart. We are having so much fun being parents to this little blessing from God! She is so fun and we can't wait to see how she continues to change over the next few weeks.

Precious girl!

It's amazing how much I love this girl already!

This captures everything about Lainey's personality! 

One of her quick naps!

Lainey was born on our six year and ten month anniversary. We are so blessed to have this long awaited miracle in our life.

She couldn't keep her eyes shut when she heard the camera gears turning. She is so curious about the world. I love it!

I'm so thankful for my precious family!

Lainey's first week

This week has been full of surprises. Lainey has already brought us so much joy! We are just amazed and in love with this little girl. Brian took a full week off and we loved every minute of our time with him. Lainey loves her daddy and loves to snuggle up with him any chance she gets. We are still trying to figure out this whole sleep thing. From the moment Lainey was born she has had trouble sleeping unless she is being held. We are really working to get her to sleep in her nap nanny or her pack and play, but right now she's only sleeping well on our chest. One night this week she slept six hours straight, but that was a one time thing. Her doctor showed us how to position her on her side, and she will do that for about 20 minutes. However once she realizes that she's not with someone she tends to get fussy. Lainey is a great eater! She lost 6 oz. from birth to her first doctor's appointment, but at her weight check today she was right back up to her birth weight. She eats 30-35 minutes at each feeding. We are trying to get her on some sort of routine, but we also know it's going to take some time. She is so alert and will be awake for up to three hours at a time just looking around and talking to anyone who will listen. You would think this would wear her out, but she still doesn't love to sleep at night. She even has alert times at 3:00 am. :) We are enjoying time with Joyzie, my mom, now that Brian is back at work. She has been such a lifesaver and source of strength. I love having her here. She plans to stay until Friday when Brian comes home and I'm really thankful for that. It's nice to have someone to hand her off to when she fusses for a while and someone to help take her to the doctor and things like that. I'm a little nervous to take her anywhere by myself, but I know we will have to do that soon. Lainey is such a blessing and Brian and I are so thankful that God has blessed us with the joy of being parents. We have such great friends and such a wonderful family that this week has been great. We look forward to seeing what next week will bring.

She's Here!

Our little miracle decided to show up a few hours early. We were scheduled to be induced on Wednesday morning and she decided Tuesday evening would be a perfect time for mommy to go into labor. It was quite a funny experience because Brian had decided to take Excedrine PM before going to bed Tuesday night. Little did he know that about an hour into his deep sleep I would be waking him up to take me to the hospital. I was in so much pain that I was begging him to speed and could hardly walk into Labor and Delivery. I quickly went from 4.5 cm to 8 and was at a 10 within two hours of being at the hospital. My doctor was not on call and the one that was did not do the best job. My water never broke and he did not show up to break my water until 5:00am. The nurse said I could have probably delivered around 1:00 if my water would have just broken. She had a bowel movement in her sack so the NICU had to be called in for our delivery. I was super scared when I hear the call for NICU so I was determined to push her out as quickly as possible. After we started pushing we delivered her within 40 minutes.  Needless to say it was a long night of waiting and not the easiest labor, but our beautiful little girl was welcomed with love at 5:41 am.  She weighed 7 lbs. 12 oz. and was 19 inches long. She has the fullest head of thick black hair and perfect skin! We are truly in love. Lainey hates laying on her back so we've been holding her a lot. We got to go home from the hospital yesterday afternoon and are enjoying this sweet baby at home.  Today is the first day that we've really worked with her to show her that swings, bouncers, and nap nannys are her friend. :) She's getting much better at laying by herself for a few minutes so I think she may sleep better tonight than she did last night. She's nursing really well, almost too well. She is very alert and such a precious little girl! I'll post more about her first few days later. Right now we are enjoying our visitors, trying to sleep and recover and getting to know this beautiful blessing that God has given us.

My last belly pic. about an hour before we went to the hospital.