Thursday, January 31, 2013

Snow White

My friend, Monica, told us that Sachse High School was putting on Snow White tonight, so I asked Charlotte if she wanted to go see it, and she was uber excited.  Hunter...not so much.  He kept wavering back and forth about whether he wanted to go, and ultimately decided that he needed to stay home and rest:) 

So Charlotte and I went out for a girls' night to do one of her favorite things.  (Anything involving princesses falls within the realm of that girl's favorite things). 

I barely have any pictures of myself from this pregnancy.  When I was filling out Grey's baby book the other day, I noticed there is a spot for a pregnant picture of myself (awesome), so James snapped a couple of the two of us before we left.

I am pretty swollen and definitely have pregnancy nose...
...and you almost can't see sweet Charlotte's face because of my big belly!  People always tell me that I'm so small for how far I am, but I feel like I've really popped out the last couple of weeks.  I was telling my OB on Tuesday about how people comment on how small my belly is, and I asked him if he thought I wasn't very big and that maybe my uterus just didn't get very big.  He looked at me like I was crazy...one eyebrow lifted, with a face that said, "Girl, go look in the mirror."  Of course he's too kind (and wise!) to ever actually say that to me:)

 
Charlotte was giddy with excitement.  She kept screeching, "I'm so excited!" with the hugest grin, but everytime I'd ask to take a picure, she'd beg me not to...
 
So eventually I stopped trying and just took a picture of her ticket:)...

She loved the show, and excitedly told James all about it when we got home.  Such a fun girls' night with my sweet Char!

Monday, January 28, 2013

Char's First Dental Visit

We were a little late getting to it, but Charlotte finally had her first dental check up last Friday.  She's been to the dentist's office before with Hunter, so she knew how cool it was.  When we got out of the car, she happily skipped to the door, exclaiming, "I'm so excited!!" 
 
Once we were inside, she played in the little wait area for a couple of minutes before they called us back...
They are so efficient there, though, that she didn't play for long!  Pretty soon, she was back in the chair with her dental hygienist, Jill.  Jill was awesome with Char.  She had her sit on the chair and showed her all of the tools first...

Jill would touch it to Charlotte's hand first, and then gently touch it in her mouth...

After the little mirror, she showed her the polishing brush...


And then the water sprayer and suction thing.  She demonstrated in both her own hand and Charlotte's...



Then it was time to get started.  Char picked pink sunglasses, so she put them on, laid on the table and was ready for her cleaning and check up...

Charlotte did AWESOME!  And got a A for brushing.  She got to pick a prize, and of course she picked a ring...

Then it was time for x-rays.  She picked a Cinderella sticker before getting started...

I think they are so cute in the little lead aprons...


I was so proud of how great she did, and I think she was proud of herself, too!

Friday, January 18, 2013

AG Bistro

James and I wanted to spend some time with each of our littles before Greyson makes his arrival.  So last Saturday, while James and Hunter hung out at Dave & Buster's, Charlotte and I went over to the American Girl store at the Galleria and ate lunch at the little bistro upstairs.  We knew that Charlotte's friend, Amelia just got her new American Girl doll in November, so we invited Amelia and her mommy to come along.  She is one of Char's favorite friends and they always have great fun together!
 
Amelia had been a couple of times before so she gave us some pointers when we got there.  Each doll gets her own high chair so she can sit at the table with us and she also gets her very own little cup.  When our drinks came out, Char picked up her baby's cup and started to put it to her mouth, but stopped and said, "Her mouth won't open."  I started to tell her that she could just pretend, but then realized that there was pink lemonade in the dolls' cups, too!  Both Charlotte and Amelia thought it was more fun to drink from their dolls' cups, so they just kept refilling them and drank out of them for the entire meal...
 
 
Char and her Bitty Baby, Emily, dressed in the matching outfits that Grandee bought them for Christmas...
 
Dipping her cup for a refill...
 
We had such a fun girls' outing!  Can't wait to go back again one day!

Friday, January 11, 2013

Hunter's Birth Story

I started our family blog right before Hunter was born for the sole purpose of posting tons of pictures to show off his cuteness and to tell stories about how funny and smart he was.  It has evolved a little over the years, but y'all know I still love to post tons of cute pics of my loves. 

I never wrote a birth story for Hunter because I was so new to blogging.  I feel regretful about that because it's only been (almost) 6 years, and I have already forgotten so much of that day.  So, here's my best shot at a recap of one of the top 3 best days of my life up to now...

Hunter's due date was March 21, 2007, but at 37 weeks I was already dilated to 2 cm and effaced 70%.  At 38 weeks, it increased to 3 cm dilated and 80% effaced, and at 39 weeks, 3 cm dilated and 90% effaced.  So at my 39 week appointment, my OB told me that my cervix was "very favorable" and he could induce me that Saturday (the 17th) since he was on call...if I wanted him to.  If I was the woman I am now, I wouldn't have done it, but I was so anxious to meet him that of course I couldn't resist the offer. 

So on Saturday March 17, 2007, James and I set our alarm for around 6:30 am and got ready to head to the hospital.  We were told to be there at 8 am to get things going.  I remember it feeling so surreal that I was going to have a baby by the end of the day.  I definitely didn't feel like I was old enough or mature enough or ready enough to be a parent.  At the same time, I was so anxious to meet him (and ready to not be pregnant anymore!).  I think all of the excitement of meeting him took away any fear I had about giving birth. 

We met our nurse pretty quickly after checking in and she was great right from the start.  We were so blessed by her...she really was a perfect fit for me.  I'm not sure what we did for the first two hours, but it was 10 am before they really did anything to intervene with starting labor.  We had a ton of people that waited the entire day at the hospital for Hunter to arrive - my mom, dad, Katie and her kids, and grandparents all sat up there all day. 

At 10 am they gave me an IV, and it took several nurses to find a vein...torture for me!  After it was finally in, they started me on pitocin.  I hadn't decided if I was going to get an epidural or not.  I wanted to try to do it without one, but no one really took me seriously.  I don't handle pain well, so they all assumed I'd end up getting one beore it was over.  Two hours later, at noon, Dr Hunt came in and broke my water to help progress me a little more.

Sometime after that I had a talk with my nurse about an epidural.  I remember telling her that I could take more pain than what I was feeling then, but I didn't know how much more.  She felt my abdomen and said she'd classify the contractions as moderate.  I somehow forgot this part, but James says I was in tears at this point, which is why he was trying to convince me to get the epidural then.  I ended up asking for the epidural and got it soon after.

I don't remember the progression of my dilation, but I do remember feeling disappointed each time they checked me because I felt like it wasn't progressing quickly enough.  I also remember trying to read the printout from my monitor that measured the contractions, and the nurse (jokingly) getting on to me about it because she said there was no way I could read it.  She kept reassuring me that she was watching it closely and that I didn't need to worry about it.  I wasn't worried, I just wanted to be reassured that he was going to come quickly!

Around 5:00 pm, my mom came in to tell me that my grandparents were about to leave, but the nurse checked me right after and said I was ready to push, so they all waited in the waiting room.  We did some practice pushes first since it was my first time.  Then we started pushing, and I remember feeling like by the time we got to 8 (James would count to 10 and then I could break), all of the blood vessels in my face were going to bust open. 

After a while the nurse told me that she really thought the mirror would be helpful to me for pushing.  James and I had commented on the mirror when we first got there that morning, jokingly asking each other who would ever use that?!  My horror must have shown on my face because she told me that I was pushing great every contraction, but that by the time James got to 8, I gave up and Hunter's little head would get sucked back in:).  That was all I needed to hear to become one of those people that use the mirror.  And she was right.  I did give up around the 8 count (when the blood vessels in my face felt like they were about to explode).  The mirror definitely helped me push through to 10.  I remember feeling so weird just sitting there in between contractions waiting to push and suprised at how quickly I learned what it felt like when I needed to push.  Initially, she had to look at the monitor to tell me when to push, but after I got the feel of it, I knew it was time even through the epidural.  It was also so surreal to see Hunter's little blue head everytime I would push.  (Sorry if that's a little TMI!)

Dr. Hunt came in to deliver after I'd been pushing for around 35-40 minutes.  After around 45 minutes of pushing, he was born at 5:59 pm on March 17, 2007 (St. Patrick's Day!), weighing 8 lbs, 0.5 oz (the rounded up to 1 oz).  He had a serious cone head, but was still the most beautiful baby I'd ever seen.  James cut the cord and we held him and loved him instantly! 

After a short time together with just the 3 of us, the family came in to meet him.  We were so thankful for our beautiful, healthy baby.  It really is shocking how quickly that tiny little nugget has turned into my tall, lanky (almost) 6 year old.  He's going to be such a good big brother to his little brother, Greyson.  I so look forward to seeing the bond that they have.

 





Tuesday, January 1, 2013

2012

A recap of our year...
 
January
The kids and I trekked down to Houston with Nana, Aunt Katie, Zack, and Vanesa to visit Aunt Courtney.  While we were there, Nathan and Court took us to a yummy burger joint... 



And for some barbecue after church...

James stayed back home, and when we we returned, we found these yummy treats he'd made for us!
 
February
This may have been my favorite memory of all!  Or at least one of the best vacations ever...our first family trip to Disney World!!   




I can't wait to go back again one day!
 
March
James and I celebrated 7 years of marriage... 

And our firstborn's 5th (FIFTH!) birthday...


March was a big month for Hunter.  He also got a preview of his school during Kindergarten Roundup...


April
Mom and Rich got married on the 14th...
 
And we had a wonderful Holy Week, including our first Passover meal...
 
May
Hunter graduated from preschool!  What a milestone!

And we had our first of many swims of the season, including a swim at Aunt Courtney's apartment during another trip to Houston to visit her...

 
June
Char started ballet (baby ballet) for the first time ever... 
And she hasn't stopped dancing since!

Hunter returned to swim lessons with Ms. Patti. As you can see, he's less than thrilled...
I'm happy to say that his attitude has completely changed, though, after taking weekly lessons with Ms. Patti this fall.  He's a great swimmer now!

We also announced that our family would be growing in 2013!



We are all so excited to meet Greyson next month!  (Or maybe this month if he decides to be kind to me and come early...full term, but early full term would be my exact preference;))
 

July
The whole family (the Brooks 4, Nana and Rich, Ansons minus Steve:(, and Aunt Courtney and Nathan) took a trip to Crystal Beach... 

 
And on the last day of July, our sweet girl turned 3!
 

August
She had her party at Pump it Up in early August... 


And at the end of the month, Hunter started Kindergarten!


What an emotional day that was for this mama!
 
September
Then the next week, Charlotte started preschool for the first time...


And on the 15th Aunt Courtney and Uncle Nathan got married...

 
October
We had so much fall fun in October, including the Arboretum... 

 
The State Fair of TEXAS...


 
 And many Halloween festivities...
 
November
We were blessed to be able to spend another weekend at the Roberts' cabin... 

 
Charlotte had her first ever preschool performance and Thanksgiving feast...

And Hunter had a little feast with his class, too...
 
December
Y'all know December was FULL of fun family memories.  I've loved it all, and I'm a little sad it's over.  Okay...a lot sad!  There's nothing more special to me than time with the family all together...
I can't believe next year's recap will have a picture of our little family of 5!
 
We have been so blessed in 2012.  I will look back on it fondly as I sweetly anticipate what the Lord has planned for our family in this coming year.  Happy New Year to all of you!  I pray that God will bless you with a renewed hope and deepened love for Him this year!