Daddy & Leighton

I took this picture a couple of months ago when Leighton and Mikey were playing on the floor.  Shortly after I took the picture, I found this frame when we went to Christmas Village in Nashville.  As soon as I read it, I KNEW I had to buy, I didn't even care if it cost $50.00 I would have bought it, plus I had the perfect picture for it.  Everything about it is true.  He was her first kiss, first love and first friend.  Mike can get this girl to light up as soon as she hears his voice, he makes her laugh ALL the time.  FYI: She wants her mommy when she is upset, tired, hungry, etc.  AND she actually says "mama".  It is pretty cute.  But these two people are the loves of my life and I can't imgaine life without them.

I love you this much!!

Leighton goes to a "home" daycare.  We are sooo blessed to have a wonderful family that keeps Leighton.  Mrs. RoseAnne is amazing and loves my baby as much as we do.  Could not have asked for a better situation (especially with all my crazy anxiety issues)!! This week they worked on cards for the parents, its my first artwork from my baby (did I tear up?  yes)  I wanted to share it with everyone!  I will keep this forever.  The little "spider" is her hand prints and the "ghost" is her foot.  TOO TOO CUTE!! On Monday I am going Trick or Treating with them, can't wait to take pictures of her in the costume!!

Me

There is one song I heard back in 2007 and it broght me to tears then.  To sum it up it says everything as to why I wanted to be a mother one day.  Now that I am a mommy to the most AMAZING daughter EVER this song has so much meaning.  I play this song all the time for Leighton and cry pretty much every time.  Plumb is the artist, CD is "Blink".  She is a Christian artist and wrote all the songs while she was pregnant.  There is actually several songs on this cd that are great, but here is the one that I love:

"Me"

I haven't had

A chance to sleep

And when I wake

I wake with your dreams

I guess my pillow

Holds some kind of key

to your peace

Your peace

Me

I wouldn't trade your love for all the candy

In this great big world

Me

I feel so crazy blessed and oh so lucky

To be the place you go

When you need to feel safe

When you need a kiss

It's me

I haven't showered

And I tried to eat

But all your tears

Oh they needed me

I need some time, some time to think

But then I hear you

And you what you need is...

Me

I wash your face

To make room for

All the kisses

Of tomorrow

And every day

That I get to

Be here with you

Is sweet

3 Months Old!

I cannot believe my baby is now 3 months old and only 12 days from being 4 months old.  Where has time gone to?!  When she was almost 3 months old I started back work full time.  I am still having a hard time, I feel like I am missing SOOO much and in reality I am.  Hopefully sooner than later I will be able to stay home with her.  That would be my dream come true.  Being a working mom is tough, working, cleaning, taking care of pets, cooking (ha!), and my first priority is Leighton.  If it comes to spending time with her I am, computer can wait, dishes can wait, everything can wait.  That is why my blogging as slowed down, not that I was that frequent, but I promised myself I would be once I had her so I could document everything.  I am making a lot of videos though on my phone, I really need to figure out how to upload them onto YouTube.

She is a great baby, happy ALL the time, except for the following: hungry and tired!  AND she will definitely let you know when she is hungry!  She goes from being ok to NOT being ok in about 2 seconds!! On October 2nd she laughed for the very first time, most adorable sound I have EVER heard.  On October 7th she rolled over for the first time.  That one surprised me, it happened all so fast!  It is so amazing to watch her grow and turn into a "little person".  Just a couple of weeks ago it seems like she isn't my tiny baby anymore, she likes to be held sitting up so she can see everything.  She also can put herself to sleep now but every once in awhile she wants us to rock her to sleep, which I cherish every little minute of.

She currently sometimes sleeps through the night.  She was but then hit a growth spurt and hello 3AM!  I am normally exhausted during the day but getting to spend that time with her is special.  She also LOVES tv, especially Little Einsteins, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (hot dog hot dog hot diggity dog), Baby Einstein, and a Blues Clues DVD I bought, teaching her the alphabet.

We had our 3 month photo shoot today!  Last year I went to this pumpkin patch with my dad and sister right after I told them I was pregnant and I just knew I would going to bring my baby back this year to take pictures and just enjoy this fall weather!  She did pretty good in the beginning but she was over tired so toward the end she was a little cranky and ended up passing out!  I can't wait to see the pictures.  She also just looked SO STINKIN CUTE in her apple beanie (couldn't help but get her one, I mean heller, it's an apple!) 

I will stop bragging about my little angel for now.  Off to coupon world so I can prepare for our grocery trip tomorrow!

Maternity Pictures

I wanted to share some maternity pictures, we had them done one of my besties Crystal Tassone {::Crystal Sheri Photography::}.  She also did Leighton's newborn pictures, I can't wait to shoot the 3 month old session!  Crystal did a great job and really captured Mike and I just being ourselves, laughing and having a good time!  You can also see the love that we have, especially when Mike is looking at me, melts my heart over and over!  :)

1 month old!!

July 27th, 2011

Can't believe our baby girl is already 1 month old!  She went to the doctor,  weighed 8 lbs 8 oz 21 1/4 inches long and is healthy!!  She is in the 50th percentile for height and weight.  She did get one shot that day which her mama was not prepared for!! She cried and then I cried....daddy will be going to the 2 month check up with us!  This is a picture of her on her 1 month birthday!!

Our Daughter, Leighton Taylor

Born June 27, 2011 at 9:57 PM, 7 lbs 7 oz, 20 1/4 inches.  Healthy, beautiful and perfect....couldn't ask for anything more!

3rd Trimester!

Well, I can honestly say that my third trimester has been rough!  After having a great 2nd trimester I did not invision this trimester going this way!  However, our baby is healthy and growing (AND GROWING) and that is the most important thing.  She is been my main priority for 9 months and I know it isn't going to stop with delivery day.  It started out pretty good, not so bad, my belly started growing more and more and more uncomfortable, I do not see how I don't have stretch marks from one side to the other!  My skin seems like it can't stretch anymore!  I first had to take the glucose tolerence test at 27 weeks which taste like orange soda with no fizz and 100x the sugar!  It also gave me heartburn! Well a week after I took that my MD office called, something happened with the lab and I had to take it AGAIN.  Then they almost made me take again, long story.  BUT I passed it with flying colors!  Around 30 weeks pregnant I found out I am anemic and had to start taking iron 2 times day, which this explained why I was soooo tired!! I thought I was just a big wimp!At 32 weeks pregnant I was at work one morning, started cramping and I honestly thought I was going into preterm labor, by 10 that morning I was in so much pain I could barely breathe.  I am on my way to the MD, Mike is going 100 MPH from Nashville to meet me and as soon as I am leaving work all of that pain moved to my back and I knew then that it was kidney stones! Imagine having kidney stones at 8 months pregnant.  It was H O R R I B L E!!  As soon as my Mikey walked into the room at the doctors office the pain stopped, the stones stopped moving. This all happened on Wednesday and on Friday morning around 3:00 AM they decided to start moving again.  I tried walking out the pain, for 3 hours!!)  I didn't want to wake up the on call doctor and I didn't want to wake up Mike so I drank lots of water and walked my whole house, about 200 times.  Finally around 6 I couldn't take it anymore, I called the doctor and they admitted me into the hospital to get me pain meds and fluids.  We were in the hopsital Friday and Saturday, finally by Friday night the pain had stopped and I had only passed pieces of the of stone.  On Saturday was my baby shower that my sister planned and I did not think I was going to be discharged from the hospital, but FINALLY around 11 we got to leave run home get ready and have my baby shower!! AND 9 days later....the granddaddy of all kidney stones finally decided to pass.  I haven't had any problems since then (crossing fingers)!  I also developed this heartburn acid reflux thing that is so uncomfortable, all I can say is Zantac became my new BEST FRIEND! I had it all day, every day, and all night.  Ever since she dropped which was around 34 weeks it has gotten a lot better!! Around 34/35 weeks I started developing high blood pressure, it is pregnancy induced hypertension.  I am not doing anything wrong, it happens a lot to first time moms.  I am also having protein in my urine, goes hand in hand with the hypertension.  They have been watching at each appointment and at each appointment my BP kept going up.  SO last Thursday, June 23rd, at my appointment, my BP was really high again and the doctor got a serious look on her face and basically said I needed to be induced and until then I was put on bed rest.  I was excited but also very overwhelmed and worried about our baby girl, I just want her to be safe and I just feel like I am doing everything wrong.  Dr. McGowan picked my inducement date which is.....my birthday!  I will be 39 weeks 2 days pregnant.  I joked this whole 9 months that she was going to come on my bday and I wanted us to have different birthdays but it doesn't matter to me anymore, it will be special, best birthday present a girl could ask for and as long as she is safe and in our arms, who could ask for more!  We will be meeting our daughter in 2 days....still hasn't sunk in, poor Mike has a list of to-dos from me but we are very excited and nervous!  We will be keeping everyone posted, please keep all 3 of us in your prayers!! :) 

Leighton's Nursery!!

Her room is 98% complete!! I am so excited to show off her room, there has been a lot of work and time put into her nursery.  Her daddy built her changing table and dresser and her papa built her crib!! I am not going to lie, there were times I thought why did we decide to go this route and I wish we would have bought it because I just wanted everything done and finished.  (especially before she made her appearance!)  But I am so proud of my husband, he did such an AMAZING job, it looks like I went into Pottery Barn and bought it!!  We picked out a set we liked online, we made some changes and he went and bought the wood and the next thing I know there was a changing table!! I told him this morning now that I know he is that good, I got a lot of stuff on my list that I want for the house!! :)  I know he wanted to do this for his daughter, it will be very special for her having her furniture built by her daddy and papa!  I say the nursery is only 98% complete because we are waiting to put more pictures up, which are her newborn pictures and some maternity pictures, those will be up after she is here, which is Monday, June 27th.  Her Aunt Maranda made the cute letters above her crib, which I LOVE, they match her adorable bedding, which her Aunt CC bought for her! I made the little birdhouses on her dresser.  I meant to take a picture of her closet to show off ALL of her clothes, she has a full wardrobe.....serisously!  Hopefully I will get to that  today! Enjoy!

2nd Trimester, a wonderful wonderful time!

My 2nd trimester started a little rocky....I thought the "morning sickness" was going to stay with me for the rest of the pregnancy.  Lucky around the 18th week it decided to give me a break and let me eat!  AND I ate and ate!! I gained most of my weight during this time.  I started craving sweets around this time, which I already had a thing for sweets to begin with but it just got worse, like 10x worse.  I felt amazing during this trimester, I felt better, I had WAY more energy, I actually got to clean our house this trimester.  I didn't feel as big as a house and I could bend over without grunting out loud, it was amazing.  I loved my growing baby bump and I loved maternity clothes (yes, they are comfortable)!!  First movement that I felt was at 15 weeks, I laid down to go to sleep and I thought I felt something weird so I sat really still and it didn't stop!! I felt rolling and little jabs, I LOVED IT, I cried actually because that is just how I am.  At this point I only felt it at night, I would look forward to laying down at night so I could feel our sweet wiggling around!!  We also had our diagnostic ultrasound this trimester at 19 weeks, the baby weighed 10.5 ounces at that time.  The baby was moving so much that day including climbing up my uterine wall and falling back down and flipping over and over all in all it took about a full hour for the tech to get everything she needed.  We also found out that our sweet baby is a GIRL!!! I had a feeling pretty much the whole time that "it" was a girl so it didn't really surprise me.  Her daddy on the other hand kind of walked around in shock for about 2 hours.  We went shopping that day and he kept wondering over to the boy clothes....bless his heart.  However now he is so excited about his little girl, he talks all the time about taking her fishing and golfing and everything he wants to take her to.  I think after she comes out I may not get to hold her, he might never put her down!!  Overall the 2nd trimester was my best and I felt amazing!!!

Thinking back.....1st Trimester!!

I wanted to do a recap of my pregnancy to help me remember the little worries, joys, and firsts of firsts because I know when she is here I might forget it all.  We found out we were pregnant pretty early, about 4-5 weeks, our baby didn't even have a heartbeat yet but I was in love with our little "bean" (that's what I called her).  Around week 6 I thought I would be one of the lucky ones that didn't get sick and would sail through pregnancy with no problems.  WELL boy was I wrong!! It all started one morning, Mikey went fishing or something, I got up made myself a nice cup of decaf coffee, thought it tasted a little funny, started feeling a little nauseated and it didn't go away until my 18th week of pregnancy!!  I was so exhausted and stayed away from caffeine and a simple walmart trip made me so tired I would need a 2 hour nap!  I also lost around 12 pounds which now I am grateful for actually.  The smell of ground beef cooking still makes me feel a little sick.  So basically all of my first trimester and some of the second consisted of me sleeping and trying to keep food down.  We got to hear the heartbeat at 7 weeks pregnant, no words can express how that makes you feel when you hear that soft little thump.  That is when they gave me the exact due date of July 2nd.   Looking back, I wish I would not have worried so much, I still do though.  Pregnancy is a hard thing, you are the only one responsible for your little one and I just wanted to keep her safe.  I have stayed away from everything I am suppose to, not too much fish, completely no deli meats (and I LOVE ham sandwiches), haven't lifted anything over 15 pounds, and so on and so on.  My first trimester ended on Christmas Day, it was a wonderful present to make it to the 2nd trimester, to get to carry this little blessing has been unbelievable! 

35 Weeks!!

I'm back!! Maybe, haha!! Sorry I am honestly horrible about sitting down and actually taking the time to look at a computer, only time I do is once a month, pay the bills and I am on my way!  I really wanted to post more about my pregnancy but we have been so busy and I am just tired a lot.  To catch up, we am so blessed to have such great people in our life, we had 2 amazing baby showers! One in my home town Troy planned by my church, Southside Baptist and my TN Shower planned by my great sister, "Aunt CC"!   Leighton is such a blessed little girl already and is so loved by so many people.  A HUGE thank you to everyone who came, planned, organized, and bought for our baby girl!! It really means a lot.  I wanted to take pictures of everything but her room has been such a mess until last weekend when my mama came to help me organize.  Every item has been washed, hung up, and folded and just awaiting her arrival.  I promise I am not a lazy person, I have had a lot going on.  Around week 32 I started passing kidney stones (and contracting) and was in the hospital.....passing kidney stones at 8 months pregnant really tends to take a lot of out one person!! Since then, I have been taking it easy, have to keep my baby girl safe.  We have been doing our childbirth classes, and prepping the house for the baby.  Mikey has been building her changing table and dresser, they look AMAZING so far.  I am hoping to take pictures of him tomorrow but he doesn't like me in the shop with him, I distract him! My father-in-law built her crib and it is B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!!! They brought it on the day of her TN shower, it looks so great, I can't wait to post pictures but I want to wait until her nursery is completely done, hopefully that will be soon!! I can't wait to put her baskets in her changing table, all the small little details that new moms dream about! I am now 35 weeks pregnant, still hard to imagine we will be parents soon, really really soon.  In about 4 weeks we will be holding our sweet angel in our arms.  We can't wait just seems unreal sometimes.  We waited a long time to have a baby and now the time has come and I still can't grasp that fact I am going to be a mom, and my husband and is going to be a dad, an amazing one at that, he already loves this little girl more than words can express.  He takes great care of us, we are so lucky!! :)  I haven't taken many belly pictures, I am pretty bad at that but I took one at 34 weeks with my mama, probably the last time she saw me preggo - hopefully tomorrow I can get a lot of pictures posted from the showers.  Until then here are a few! :)

One sick puppy.....

My baby Moe is sick!  I saw blood in his urine on Wednesday after work, I freaked out!  Took him to the vet where they had to observe him all day and take x-rays and urine samples.  First time I had to leave him by himself E V E R.  I think he handled better than me, I cried and cried....and cried plus I was just so worried about what was wrong with him, luckily it ended up being a stone that is passing through his little tubing in there.  The vet used bigger words but I can't remember them.  Hopefully the stone will pass on it's own, if not he will have to have it surgically removed, which this little mama is not prepared for.  He is my baby, I treat him like a child, probably why he acts like a child but I can't help it.  He is also suppose to be on this special food for the rest of his life but I am going to get my mama to talk to our vet in AL about that one, I am sure unsure about that one.  I am just so glad he is ok for now and praying this stone will pass on it's own!  I took this picture of him this morning before work, how can you not LOVE this little face?!

22 Weeks & Housework!

I am 22 weeks today!  As I am sitting here typing our little Leighton is kicking away!! This is her norm - she decides to start moving, twisting, punching & kicking when it is time for me to settle down for the night..I don't mind though - I LOVE feeling her kick!!  I have been experiencing some CRAZY painful round ligament pain, might have to do with the fact that I have gain 5 pounds in 2 weeks.  That makes my total weight gain 7 lbs so that tells you how little I actually ate my first trimester!!  Mikey has been so busy around the house, I feel bad, normally I would be helping him but I gotta keep our baby girl safe & sound!! We are not only working on her room, we are working on our bonus room, guest bed room & her bathroom!! He is also going to be building her changing table and dresser!  Little overwhelming - money & time wise, we only have 4 full months left and our little booger will be here! :) Mike had his friend Evan come help today - THANKS EVAN!!! He helped paint, remove carpet and move furniture!  We are getting new carpet next weekend, I CANNOT WAIT!  My loving mama bought the carpet (and paint) for Leighton's room - that is her gift to her first grandbaby!!  So THANK YOU GAMMY!!  Leighton's Aunt Cherish is buying her bedding and planning her shower!  We are so lucky to have family that wants to help out and get ready for our little girl!! ALSO, Mikey and I went to a consignment sale in Franklin and bought so much GOOD stuff for her for sooo cheap!!  We bought the following:  Pack-n-play, changing table pad, laundry hamper, tummy time mat, clothes, decorations for her room, travel diaper changing pad, vibrating bouncy seat, boppy pillow, bath mat, hair bows and head bands, and a cozy rider - all for $175!!!! Here are some pictures of the progess on the rooms and some stuff we got at the consignment! 

 

IT'S A GIRL!!!

We are so excited to say that we are having a little girl!  We had our ultrasound yesterday, my mom and mother-in-law came with us to the appointment!  The ultrasound tech said she looks good, weighs 10.5 ounces!  She was so adorable in there, turning, flipping, kicking & climbing (yes climbing!) she also kept putting her arm in front of her face! Maybe she is shy?!  We have picked out a name (as long as I don't change my mind about 10 more times).  Her name is Leighton - middle name still in limbo but we have 2 in mind.  Here are some pictures from this weekend.  I was 19 weeks 1 day in my preggo pic!  Her nursery progress is going to begin soon, we have picked out bedding & paint and I am so lucky to have such a great family that is wanting to buy buy buy!! 

Isn't her little profile too cute?!?

17 Weeks!

I finally took a belly picture last Sunday so I was 16 weeks 1 day, hopefully tonight before the hubs and I go on our date he can take a picture for me!  We are getting soooo excited about the ultrasound, I wake up every morning and announce how many days we have left, today is 16!!  I am excited about finding out the gender but I am also just really excited about seeing our little sweet baby, I've only had 1 ultrasound and I was only 7 weeks so to me (and this may sound bad) but the baby looks like a fish!  I am going to start working on the nursery today, as of right now, as I type, this room is our computer room and it also looks like a tornado came through.  I haven't been doing much with it because I knew it would be the baby's room soon but we are running out of time because we are getting new carpet in February so I better get to cleaning it out!! I would take a before picture but honestly, I am ashamed!  You will see the nursery progress though, I think I am more excited about that!! 

16 weeks 1 day

15 Weeks!

I cannot believe I am 15 weeks already!  I feel like it is going by too fast but also too slow!  We have an appointment tomorrow, just a check up and we get to hear our baby's heartbeat, can't wait!  February is when we find out the gender, I have already been looking for bedding and nursery ideas, looking for both genders of course.  Mikey and I found one we really like for a boy yesterday.  Well I am 2 weeks into my 2nd trimester, and my appetite was beginning to return in the last week until Thursday night, I got sick in a restaurant, that is always exciting, I also got sick Friday night and had a hard time eating last night.  Hopefully it will all pass soon!  Other than that, I am still tired sometimes, I think I just accustom to being lazy from the first trimester, I was so on edge the whole 13 weeks, if I thought I needed rest, I did and now trying to get back into the swings of things is hard!  I am trying though!  

I have hit some exciting milestones, I FINALLY started showing, at first I was paranoid just thinking I looked like I had a popbelly!  I am officially in maternity work clothes, and I am hanging onto my skinny jeans but I am pretty sure I will have to retire those soon!  ALSO, last week, I felt the baby MOVE! I'm not feeling actual kicks yet and it is only at night when I lay down and I am really still that I feel our sweet angel moving around in there!  It feels like someone is gently pushing with their index finger but from the inside.  It was amazing!  I look forward to it every night now!  I also felt it yesterday during the day, I think our little baby is just really active, probably trying to send a message to mommy to stop being so lazy!! :)  I am sad I haven't taken any belly picks but I am going to start today, plus I love my little belly now!!  

We went to our doctors appointment on Monday and got to hear our baby again!  Dr. McGowan said his/her is strong and about 160 bpm!  We FINALLY get to see our sweet baby Feb. 7th!! AND find out the gender!! I am SOO excited! Hopefully I can post some belly pictures soon! :)