3 months

Brecken just refuses to smile for the camera! She smiles all the time, just not when I have the camera out. Neway, Brecken is 3 months old and to me, looks the same as 2 months. She weighs 12 lbs. 14 oz. and as you can see, has outgrown her newborn clothes, but mommy hasn't gotten out the 3 months clothes yet, so she looks like a porker!

Everyone now says she looks more like me, but where I am around her everyday, I can't really tell any difference. Her hair has gotten lighter and longer and thankfully has not thinned yet. She has discovered her hands and is trying fiercely to grab the musical ladybug that hangs from her stroller, but has not yet succeeded. One day, my child. She kicks her legs and flails her arms like a madwoman, and unfortunately, she has her mom's temper. We couldn't get her to go to sleep the other night and as we were standing over her crib not knowing what to do, Matt says "She has so much fight in her" and then looks at me accusingly.

Every day is an adventure with her. There is no routine. We establish one for a few days, and then she decides to throw it out of whack, which throws mommy out of whack-I need my routine! I've been told I still have a lot to learn regarding this.

Dedication

This past Sunday was Brecken's dedication service at Matt's parents church. She was our perfect little angel! I held her the whole time and she just stared at Matt and me. We are truly blessed to have a such a wonderful daughter. I thank God for her everyday and am still in amazement that we created such a perfect human being.

She wore the gown that her great grandmother bought for her to wear home from the hospital when she was born and Matt and I thought it was perfect for the occasion. It was a beautiful ceremony and I wish my family could have been here to share it with us as well.

Noddie will be here next week to visit and we can't wait!

So, I decided to cheat off Debbi and take a picture of her every month to see her progress the first year. This is her on her 2 month birthday. For some reason, the computer cropped the picture, because Matt's recliner is huge and it is not shown to proper scale. Anyway, we went to the doctor today for her well check-up and we are at 10 lb. 13 oz. and 22 inches long, so we are growing. She doesn't have a chance with Matt and I being her parents. We both eat too much, and Brecken is proving to be little miss piggy herself :)

I have discovered that my child does not enjoy my photo shoots. After about the third picture this is what happens. This better improve, because obviously my child doesn't understand my obsession with memories. This one is definitely going in the scrapbook!

ROAD TO RECOVERY

Just wanted to give everyone an update. My baby is doing sooooo much better. They took her oxygen off and her IV is out. She is starting to look like my baby girl again. We are moving from ICU to the PEDS floor today and hopefully we will be home in a few more days. Thanks everyone for the prayers!!

Let us out of here!!

this is how we have spent the past few days. my poor helpless baby trapped in the bed, tubes coming out of everywhere, her gasping for air EVERY time she coughs. I am so helpless and there is nothing i can do to stop the "bad people" from poking and prodding her :( After 2 weeks of testing and bloodwork, we finally think we have found the culprit-pertussis or more commonly known as the whooping cough. We are still waiting on the test results, but the pulmonologist confirmed the doctor's suspicions.

So this is where the next few days will be spent. "Don't expect to get out of here before Friday", says Dr. White. 3 down, 3 to go.

Little Miss Brecken

So, my poor baby has been here a week and I'm just now showing her to the blogger world (thanks Heather for announcing her arrival for me :)--I'm never on top of things anymore. So, we have kinda just been taking it easy. My mom is here and and doing everything for me. I ended up having a c-section and she is staying longer than she planned, but I am so glad she is because there is no way I could have done it without her! Brecken is the best baby ever-she only cries when she is hungry, but she sleeps ALL the time! I know this is expected at her age, but I'm ready to play with her!! Anyway, we are all doing fine and will be making a trip to Arkansas next week to see my brother who's in from Hawaii.

Awaiting Brecken!!

So I go to the doctor 2 days ago and I am dilated to 2. She says that I should have her in a couple of weeks. So, I get excited, thinking any day now. Then I talk to my friend Sommer who has been dilated to 2 since Feb 12 and I think, oh my god, I can't handle it anymore!! I am so ready for my child to get here!!!!

Disappointed

Ok. So I really had high hopes that I wouldn''t be disappointed when I saw Twilight, even though everyone warned me it was not like the book and not nearly as good. But-I was let down anyway. I just think they left out way too much and Edward and Bella's story could have been told with so much more detail. Neway, just wanted to vent. It could also be bothering me because I am such a dork and became overly obsessed with the book that I couldn't get past it. Matt seemed to like it and think that it was fine, stating that he was pleased with the movie. Ok..done with that rant..

Now onto another one...So the stroller that we had registered for @ Wal-Mart has only been in a few select stores and I haven't actually seen it yet. Matt and I were in WM yesterday and they happened to have our stroller on display. Except the display was chained down, so we couldn't remove it to examine it. When I asked the woman there if she could get it down for us so I could see if it was what I wanted, if I could take it down easily, etc..her response, was "No, we are not allowed to take them down. You can only look @ them". WTF!!! So, me being the nice person that I am could not resist letting her know that was ridiculous and I would definitely not be purchasing a stroller from Wal-Mart! How do they justify someone dropping 220.00 on an item that you can only "look but don't touch"?? I think I'm just going to boycott WM altogether as the more I return to that place, the more frustrated I get!!

I'll stop ranting now. I need to think happy thoughts :)

Jumping on the Bandwagon

So, I couldn't resist. After hearing constantly about it, I finally read the book....and I COULD NOT put it down!! I finished it in 2 days and can't wait to go see the movie this weekend!! I always thought every one was too crazy about this series and I tried to avoid it, but couldn't any longer. I am such a sucker for the teen love story/drama, this was right up my alley. Now my only problem is going to be reading new moon and then waiting for the movie.

Away status

Found my bedding online today and wanted to see what everyone thought
the stripes is the dust ruffle, bubbles is the bumper, and the flowers are the comforter. Now if only she had a bed and a name to go with all her belongings :)

I will be away for awhile. We have sold our computer and our new one hasn't arrived yet, so I am without communication means (beside the cell phone and that's too personal). Our computer is supposed to be here in a few weeks, which seems like an eternity!

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Lack of pictures

Thanks Heather and Debbi for coming thru again and saving my computer illiterate self. Here are the pics of the strollers I'm debating on. I am going to drive everyone crazy asking their opinion, but I simply cannot make decisions for the life of me. Anyway, I like the blue and brown, but think the colors are kindof boyish, although the pattern looks girly. The green one is cheaper and I like it because it's not too girly, but I'm afraid that the light green will become dirty very easily and very soon. Anyway, that's my dilema today. If anyone knows anything about these particular strollers, I'm open to suggestions :)

I'm sure I'll be taking more suggestions on a new item tomorrow:)

So, it might be a while before I can post any pictures from my camera. I went to take a picture last night and when I turned the camera on, everything was upside down. Anyone know how to fix that? It's a canon and it's been a really good camera, I just don't know how to do anything but point and shoot. I've definitely got to figure something out because I CAN NOT be cameraless sp? throughout the holidays!!

Still figuring out this blog.

How do I paste pictures directly into my post from a website (example. i wanted to post pictures of the 2 strollers I am considering and I can't figure it out!) I get so frustrated with this blogger sometimes! I also wanted to steal your (Debbie's) baby badge thing, and couldn't figure out how to do that either. Maybe I just have pregnancy stupidity and grumpiness. I've noticed I've been rather hormonal here lately :)

Taking Suggestions

So, we are having a girl. And me being the stubborn person that I am refused to pick out girl names. So I have a list of male names that I was going to name our handsome little boy, and have no idea what to name our little girl. Well, I have a few ideas, but Matt hates every one of them (as I do his suggestions). So, we are open to suggestions. The fight goes on over:
My favorite:
Avery
Peyton
Priestly

Matt's favorite:
Anna Belle

His family also is HIGHLY recomending....Krislyn. I'm still not sure how I feel on this one. Still trying to see if it's too out there even for me. I want something that is different, but I don't want to name her "Shaniqua" either. I also don't want to scar her for life. Thank God my daddy stepped in and named me, otherwise everyone would know me as Shawni-short for Lanetta DeShawn. (and my mom swears she never did drugs).

Anyway, just pondering ideas.

I'm back for now. Matt informed me that I needed to blog more since he checked it everyday and I hadn't posted anything about our recent news...So, we're having a baby (which I'm sure everyone knows by now). That's how most of our time has been spent lately...wondering what we are going to have because I am ready to buy clothes NOW!! Picking out cribs, strollers, things that we are going to need, fighting over names because we can't seem to agree on one (I swear we are going to have "baby Hurd" in the hospital).

Then there is the realization that we are going to be responsible for a sole human being! That is scary. Can we do this? Will we make the right decisions for our child? I know that we will be loving parents and that our baby will always know that he means the world to us, but how will we handle the big decisions, like teaching him to be his own individual without being a freak?

Neway, I know I'm being morbid so I will stop and leave the big decisions for later. Right now, we're just marveling in the fact that we created this person that's living inside my belly and can't wait until March when he/she will arrive into the world and we get to hold them in our arms for the very first time.

Making a list and checking it twice

Okay, so I'm going to see if this works. I'm not to savvy on doing cool things with the computer. Neway, in just this week alone, we've managed to purchase our wedding rings and I've ordered my dress. So, I'm trying to link the website of my dress so you guys can see what it looks like. I'm dying to show someone, and Matt is the only one who shops with me, and me being the traditionalist that I am, he's not seeing the dress until I walk down the aisle (or at least until I'm getting ready to walk down the aisle, since he has to help me get ready). Enough rambling, here's the site for my dress (let me know if I linked it correctly). If it does work, be sure to select the white block. It's shown in black, but MY dress is white.

http://www.davidsbridal.com/social_dresses_detail.jsp?stid=2320&prodgroup=215

Easter Wishes

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. We went to Wheeling and visited with Annslie over the weekend. We went shopping like old times. Next weekend we are going to Matt's parents to celebrate Easter with them. I'm hoping it will be a bit warmer. 1st week of spring and it is still in the 30's! I can't wait to be on a beach in the Caribbean :)

Seeking advice AGAIN

I don't know what it is, but somehow I never learned to "really" surf the internet. I've been trying to find samples of wedding announcements online because I'm trying to write one for me and Matt to put in the paper, but I don't know exactly how to word a destination wedding, so I need a cheat sheet. The problem is, my search engines are bringing up zilch. I tried to find the Eagle online, because I know years ago, Julie Bryant anounced her destinatin wedding in the paper, and I wanted ot copy off her, but I'm having no such luck. Anyway, just needed vent. I've been in a weird mood here lately, with the unprogress of unpacking and trying to do the little things for our wedding. Really missing home, and family and friends. Poor Matt, he has no clue what to do with me. Oh well, time for bed. Maybe I won't wait another month and a half between posts. Just haven't been real motivated here lately.

MY BRAIN IS GOING TO EXPLODE!!!

I've got to stop being so sporadic with my posting! I've been so busy lately, 10 things happening at once, that I feel like I'm gonna freak out!! Although, when I think about, I just think I'm a freaker. I don't know if I would actually be able to handle it any other way. I often wonder what it would feel like to have a lesiure life (and I don't even have kids!) Neway, back to the reason for my posts....life is a whirlwind. So Matt and I have been throwing around the idea of moving into a bigger place-then we decided we didn't want to deal with the hassle of moving-then we found this house that is 3 x bigger than our apartment, with a FLAT yard, and 125.00 month cheaper rent (deal breaker) and the next thing I know, we are moving..in 2 weeks!! So, my booth that needs painting and stocking, and desperate attention if I'm ever going to make any $$ is on the back burner for now until I can get the new house painted and everything packed and moved.

In the midst of all this, I don't know what color to paint in the house. I like the rustic feel, but I also like the cottage thing, so I don't know how to meet in the middle. I'm also wanting new furniture (because I am SICK of a futon) but I know that is not a realistic goal right now. So, any ideas for painting/decorating our new abode? We are showing the place to Matt's mom this weekend, so I will take pictures to post later.

I think I'm done ranting. Now it's time to do taxes and get excited about having honeymoon money :)

Miss Me?

I find great comfort in knowing that you guys miss me when I'm away :) And that I actually have more than 2 people reading my blog. Sorry for the lapse. Nothing exciting has happened, and Matt and I have been busy creating our new travel business and I am in the process of opening up an antique booth here in town. Something else to bring me closer to a meltdown :) Neway, hope everyone had a good weekend. I stayed in and drank hot chocolate since it's still cold here. Debbi, I feel you with the negative degree weather. It's for the birds!!

Open to Suggestions

Matt and I are trying to plan our vacations, but we are stuck. We don't know where we want to go for our honeymoon/wedding--Antiqua, St. Lucia...they all sound so generic, but we're unsure of the non-generic ones. Jamaica is a definite no, this little sheltered southern girl is running out of ideas that were scarce to begin with!

We are also going to NYC this summer, and are trying to figure out which Broadway play to see, but again, I'm too sheltered to know of any plays besides Grease, Rent, Chicago...Just thought I would throw this out there. So, Debbi and Heather (since you two are the only ones that read this) where should we go?