So much to be thankful for...

During the month of November, I posted once a day on facebook - something I was thankful for. I decided to collect those thoughts here and share them on Thanksgiving.

I really do have so much to be thankful for!

Thankful Day 1: I am thankful for my husband. He really is my very best friend and my rock of sanity. He loves me no matter what. He works hard to provide for our family and is the most AMAZING Daddy. I love him more and more every day and I'm so thankful he is in my life. :o)



Thankful Day 2: Today, I am thankful for my amazing son. He changed our life in the best way the very minute we even knew he existed....and has not stopped since. He's funny and energetic, loving and silly. He loves to kick a soccer ball, dance, and give hugs. I'm the luckiest Mommy in the world. :o)




Thankful Day 3: I am so thankful for my daughter. I knew it was love when I heard her first cry and saw her Daddy tell me "It's a girl." and I became a girl Mommy. I love her to pieces! Her beautiful dark hair, her cute little nose, her fuzzy pink clothes, everything. I can't wait to watch her grow up and I hope we have the same relationship as adults that I now have with my Mom.



Thankful Day 4&5: I am thankful for my parents and my grandmother. My Mom and Dad have been by my side through EVERYTHING and always believed in me. They have helped to make me what I am today! My Grandma is the sweetest, wisest person I know. I am honored to carry her name and proud that I was able to pass it on to my own daughter.



Thankful Day 6: I am thankful for my sister. When she was 12 and I was 6, and we had to share a room, we were the best of enemies.....but now she is my best friend!! I can call her and tell her anything. We can talk for hours and not really say anything at all. I'm so lucky to have her as my sister and my friend. I love you sis!!



Thankful Day 7: I am thankful for my home. It's not a sprawling mansion - but it is our home. We have a warm place to put our children to bed, a wonderful yard to watch them play, everything you could ask for!



Thankful Day 8: I'm thankful for my husband's family. They welcomed me 8 years ago, when I had no local family of my own. They love our kids and would do anything for us.



Thankful Day 9: I am thankful for my extended family - cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. I have a very large family - and for all the craziness that comes with it - I do love it! There is always someone there to love you for who you are!

Thankful Day 10: Today I am thankful for my friends! I am very lucky to have a great group of friends here. it was awesome to be pregnant with almost all of you and I can't wait to see our kids grow up together :o) You guys rock!


Thankful Day 11: I am thankful for our veterans. My father and my husband have both served, as well as many family members and friends. For your service to our country, I say thank you!

Thankful Day 12: I'm thankful for my education. I worked very hard to be where I am professionally.



Thankful Day 13: I am thankful for my job. I love teaching. I love making a difference. and I'm pretty darn good at it too


Thankful Day 14: I am thankful for fall leaves, and gorgeous weather, and toddler giggles!!



Thankful Day 15: I'm thankful for my crockpot!! No seriously, my house smells so good! I hope this dinner tastes as good as it smells!!


Thankful Day 16: I am thankful for great coworkers! It makes all the difference in the world as I start to get things ready for going back to work. Good lunch, good visit at my school!!


Thankful Day 17: I am thankful for my daycare provider, Carrie Carlin . She is so good to Ethan and he loves her too! Of course I would love to spend my days playing with my kids, but I have to work. I have no worries about leaving him while I'm at work and I know Hannah will love her just as much as Ethan does. Thanks for taking such good care of our precious ones Carrie!


Thankful Day 18: I'm thankful for email and blogging! I can keep in touch with my family and friends back in Maryland so easily - and they can watch my kids grow up!

Thankful Day 19: Today, I am insanely thankful for the Starbucks drive-thru! When you have 2 screaming cranky kids and just need to get out of the house - but you wouldn't dare take them inside of ANY store - the drive thru is the perfect solution!! And a peppermint mocha helps brightens Mommy's mood too!! :o)



Thankful Day 20: I'm thankful for my car!! I know it's a luxury that not everyone has - and I seriously love my car!! It gets me and my family around safely and it gets me out of the house when I think I might go stir-crazy. :)

Thankful Day 21: I am thankful for childrens' Tylenol!!! Bubble gum flavored to be specific :) Ethan has a head cold and is a cranky mess. Thanks to Childrens' bubble-gum Tylenol, we are all getting some needed sleep and hopefully this cold will exit BEFORE it ends up requiring a dr visit!

Thankful Day 22: I'm thankful for milkshakes!! Tonight, peppermint chocolate chip from chick-fil-a. but I dont discriminate. I wont turn down a milkshake :o)

Thankful Day 23: I am so very thankful for modern medicine. Two years ago, modern medicine brought us our son after a very very long failed induction. and 2 months ago today.....we got our daughter!



Thankful Day 24: I am thankful for Ethan's doctors/specialists. We have a lot of people who work very hard for our little man! His pedi, his ENT, and his SLP come immediately to mind. We are blessed that they are here to guide us and help him!


Day 25:
Today....I'm just Thankful! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Siblings???

Do you think they look alike?

Ethan....................Hannah



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It's that time of year again...

You know, that time when everyone gets a haircut and you shop for cute clothes..........it's Christmas card time! Christmas cards mean Christmas pictures - both an exciting time and a time of great fear!!! I mean, come'on, I have a 2 year old!! He might be in a good mood, he might be in a rotten mood. He might smile and be adorable. He might have a meltdown and scream his head off. You just never know!! and I have an infant - who might be sweet and angelic and practicing that new gummy smile she just learned how to make. OR - she could be hungry and miserable and practice exercising her lungs....which I promise you are in full working order! Haha

But after the pictures are done - then I get to have fun and create a Christmas card!! The past few years I have used Shutterfly to make my Christmas cards and I have never been disappointed. It is so easy to just drop-in the pictures you want to add, type in your greeting, and pick a background. No frustrating hours trying to adjust photos or backgrounds. Did I mention I have 2 kids?!?! I dont have time for that!!

This was last year's card.


This year I get to add in another adorable little face!! I can't wait!! and there are so many different choices.

There is the Christmas Card Collection. Full of red and green!!

Something like this, gives me lots of options for adding photos....


but I really like the design of this one......


and this one.........


Or, I could chose from The Holiday Collection where there are gorgeous blues and silvers!

This one is kindof fun!


and I like this one too.....


Then I also have to decide if I want to make some other fun gifts, like a desk calendar or a wall art canvas.

So many choices!! Which one will I pick?!?! I'm not sure yet. I guess it depends on how those pictures turn out! Will I have two screaming kids or two smiling angels? Keep an eye on your mailbox to find out! :o)

Want to try making your own Shutterfly cards this year? Follow this link if you are a blogger and you could get 50 free cards!

Happy picture taking and card making! :o)

Chateau de Muth!!

While I was in the hospital, Ethan stayed with my good friend Natalie. She has a daughter 6 weeks older than Ethan and they are great playmates.

Natalie and David (her husband) took great care of Ethan!! He had so much fun that we are pretty sure he went through withdrawl after he got home and it was only Daddy to play with. It was like a 3 day vacation at an all-inclusive resort!

There were snacks and crafts at Paige's table!


Painting!


Jumping on the trampoline!


Fun times at the sand/water table!


Bathtime fun with cool toys!


and..........

Bedtime stories with Paige and her Daddy!


Thanks Muth family for taking such good care of our little man! It made those few days so much easier knowing that Ethan was happy!

Then and Now

Here's a little "Then and Now" fun for your Tuesday!

39 weeks pregnant (2 days before Hannah was born)


3 weeks after Hannah......same shirt!


and 3 years of fall photos!!

2008





2009





2010

Hannah's Story!!

I know it's been 2 weeks....but cut me a break! I've been kinda busy :o) But I do want to get Hannah's birth story written down before I start forgetting any of the little details, so here goes!

Wednesday Sept 22nd

Ethan was staying at my girlfriend's house while we were in the hospital. We decided it was best to drop him off Wednesday night since we had to be at the hospital SO early on Thursday. So we went to Natalie's house around 530ish, had dinner with her and watch Ethan and Paige run around and wear each other out! He went to bed much easier than I expected and we were heading home by 830. I sat on the couch, ate some ice cream, watched Survivor on DVR and shed a few hormonal tears that I was a) about to meet this new little baby and b) was home without my first baby for the first time ever. The house was too quiet! After Survivor, I took a shower with my special surgical soap (stinky stuff!) and attempted to sleep. I crawled in bed around 10ish but I remember looking at my clock around midnight and thinking I would never fall asleep. I did fall asleep, until about 130 when I had to get up and pee. and then up again at 345 to shower and get ready to go have a baby. It was the longest, short night ever.

Thursday Sept 23rd - BABY DAY!!!

We had to be at the hospital by 515/530. We went right away back to the pre-op area and I changed into my hospital gown. I had a TON of nurses! There was a nurse for me, and a nursing student to follow her. There was also a nurse for our baby, and a nursing student following her! They hooked me up to the monitor for baby's heartbeat and another to watch for contractions. I had all my vitals checked and -- SHOCKER -- my blood pressure was a little high! It took 3 nurses, 3 different tries to get my IV in. That was not comfortable at all! About an hour into our 2 hour wait, I had to turn over and lay on my left side because my blood pressure was too high. I know that drill all too well. I ended up staying on my left until we went back to the OR. I'm pretty sure Charlie was on his 5th cup of coffee at this point.


About an hour before surgery, my anesthesiologist came in to see me. Actually, he was a resident - so he had another doctor following him also. Seriously, everyone had a double! He was so nice and really helped put me at ease by explaining everything. More on him later.

Around 715, my OB arrived. Looked over my chart, laughed at me about my blood pressure, and asked if we were ready to have a baby! YES YES YES!! We reminded her that we didn't know baby's gender and she promised to let Charlie announce.

They handed Charlie his bunny suit and reminded him to leave his clothes on underneath. We all got a good laugh out of that - and yes, I guess that has been an issue before. LOL

My nurse walked me back to the OR and told me that Charlie would be allowed to join as soon as my spinal was in place. I remember being alone in the OR with Ethan's delivery too and it really is an uncomfortable feeling. I started to get upset that he wasn't there but my nurses and anesthesiologist were fantastic. He explained everything he was doing as it was happening at that really made me feel better. After my spinal was in, they helped me lay down and started hooking up all my other wires. My doctor came in and started to prep all of her stuff and I started to panic again, asking for Charlie. Just as they finished putting up the curtain, he came in and sat down by my head. I was instantly calm.

My c-section took a little longer the second time because of scar tissue from Ethan's delivery. But it wasn't too bad, especially since I wasn't so horribly sick this time. I was able to keep my eyes open and talk Charlie, which kept me calmer. When my doctor told us we were getting close, Charlie noted that "American Woman" was on the radio in the OR. We decided it would be funny if we had a girl, delivered to the song "American Woman". As my OB was about to deliver our second child, we heard her say "Wow, look at that hair". Just then, before she was even delivered - we heard her first cry! I swear, I could just feel the excitement travel all the way up my body and my heart swelled 9 times! She asked "Daddy" if he was ready and he said yes.

I remember seeing the shadow of a baby being lifted up behind the blue curtain and turning to look at Charlie. His jaw dropped, his eyes got big and he was really quiet for what seemed like an eternity. I couldn't see baby so I was depending on him to tell me what we had......and he said "It's a girl". I cried. I never dreamed I would be a girl Mommy until that moment, and right at that moment, it seemed like it was always meant to be. They lifted her up higher so I could see her. I reached up, touched her cheek and said "Happy Birthday Hannah" and then cried some more.



Charlie followed her over to get cleaned, weighed, and checked out. Again, I was so glad to not be so sick this time so I could watch too. The nursery nurses commented again on her dark hair and chubby cheeks! They got all of her measurements and weighed her, and then wrapped her up. She and Charlie came back over to my for a minute so I could meet my little Hannah. My anesthesiologist, who had been absolutely amazing, took our camera and took a few pictures for us. It was just amazing.







Charlie and Hannah left to go to the nursery. Hannah needed to be checked over and get her first bath, and I needed to be put back together again. I'm glad Charlie was gone because this is when I did start to get sick. I remember my face getting really cold and clammy all of a sudden. I said to my nurse and the anesthesiologist "I dont think I feel very good" and then it hit me. Before the poor guy could even turn around and get some medicine for my IV, I was just miserable. Luckily, it only lasted about 2 minutes until the meds kicked in. But that was for sure - a very long 2 minutes!

After I was done, the doctors and nurses lifted me to a real bed and wheeled me back to our recovery room. I got there before Charlie and Hannah. The nursery nurse came in and told me that Hannah was doing great. I was particularly worried about her blood sugars since Ethan struggled so much with his. They told me she was right at a 50, which is the lowest number they want them to be at - but still OK. They said she would be back in just a minute and they wanted her to try and nurse right away to help with her blood sugars.

After Charlie and Hannah got back, we started to make phone calls and send texts. As he called his Mom - I called mine. I really enjoyed being able to tell her that she had another granddaughter!! We were released from recovery at around 11am and wheeled to our Mother & Baby room. Ethan was waiting for us just as we got there. It was SO good to see him. He brought along a gift for his new baby sister - a small pink teddy - but was not at all interested in visiting with her, or me, in the hospital room. He was way more interested in his peanut butter sandwich and all the buttons/drawers in the room!



We had lots of visitors over the next few days and enjoyed every minute of it. We didn't have that time with Ethan since he was admitted to the NICU the day after he was born.

By Thursday night I was sitting up and dangling my feet over the side of the bed. Friday morning they removed my spinal and started me on oral pain meds, and by lunchtime I was up and walking. I knew that getting up and moving was going to be key to me feeling better. It wasn't comfortable, but I did it.

We were discharged on Sunday, Sept 26th. It was a very chilly, windy fall day. We actually turned on the heat in the car to keep our tiniest little family member warm. Ethan was very happy to have us home and I was so glad to be home.

I still cant believe we have children! CHILDREN! As in, two of them! And I still cant believe we have a daughter - even though she is all dressed in pink and laying right next to me as I type this out!

Welcome to our family, Hannah Elizabeth!!