We are back.

I think I want to come back to this space.
I din't realize how busy I would be and how I would not want to take the time at home to post about what is going on with us as a family, when we could be spending time as a family. I now realize that I want to post. I want to jot down my memories of precious Lily as a child. I want to have a place to remember things.
So, I am back. I hope to blog more regularly but I will not make any promises. Sometime I am sure they will be long and other times, short.

For now, here are some pictures of my sweet little one. Gosh do I love her to the moon and back...

love always,

Hello out there. It has been a long time since I have been back to this space. I know I say this all the time but I have been so busy. In the last few months Lily has kept me on my toes, I quit my old job and started a new one, Andy ran a marathon, we went to a wedding, a graduation, we tried to get Lily to start sleeping through the night and then she caught her first cold. Gosh all in 2 months!!! Let's just start with the first part and I will post more on the other stuff that we have been doing. So here we go. Lily....

This little girl is getting so big. She just turned 6 months old this past Monday. I cannot believe that it has been 6 months!!! She is super happy and smiles most of the time. She is usually only fussy if she is tired or hungry. She has a laugh that will make anyone around her laugh. She is a tiny little girl. She is still in size 2 diapers but I think we are going to move her up to size 3 this weekend. She just started rolling over completely on her own. She has done it a few times in the past couple of months but now if you put her on her back she will almost always flip on over. She also found her feet. If she is on her back and is not rolling over than she usually is hold on to her toes. She also recently started putting them in her mouth. She is quite flexible. We got her exersaucer out of storage and she loves it. She will play in it for quite a while and that is quite helpful when I need to get some things done around the house. She started to really notice the puppies and loves them. She laughs at them when they run around the backyard and when they come up to see what she is going she will reach out for them. It is so cute.

She loves to take a bath and play with her Daddy. They love to watch Braves games together as well. He is so sweet with her and I love it when I am holding her and he comes into the room she instantly smiles at him and them I melt into a puddle on the floor. They are just so cute together. I am still amazed at how much I love this little girl. She has changed me in more ways that I can count. She has been such a blessing and Andy and I feel so lucky to have her as out little girl. I hate that she is getting bigger because I would love to keep her tiny forever but as each day passes I fall more and more in love with her and the stage that she is in. I can't wait to see what she does in the future. We love you Lily!! love always,

4 Months

It is hard to believe that this beautiful little girl is 4 months old! I can't believe that I have been a mom for that long. It seems like she has always been here but then again the time seems to pass so quickly.



She is getting so strong. She doesn't really mind tummy time that much. She is working hard at doing her baby push ups when she is on her tummy. My mom said she rolled over the other day but I haven't seen it yet. She smiles ALL THE TIME and at just about anyone. She will laugh if you kiss her neck or turn her upside down. She loves her Daddy and gets excited when he comes into the room.

She is in size 2 diapers and 3 month clothing. She can still fit into some of her 0-3month pajamas so I think that she is a little shorty. Her eyes are so blue. My mom says that they are navy and I think that is a good description of them. I think that she still looks just like Andy but she does have my hair so at least when I hold her in public people think she belongs to me.

She loves to sit in her blue chair and "help" me wash her bottles or cook dinner. She loves to talk or scream is probably a better description. She is not mad she just likes to yell and "talk" loudly.

She is not sleeping through the night yet but we know it will come. Even though we still have sleepless nights, she is totally worth every one.

I love this girl more than I thought possible. She is such a joy and has made Andy and I love in ways that we never thought we could. Honestly, I think my favorite thing to watch is Andy interact with her and give her kisses. She loves it and it is just so sweet.

Happy 4 Month Birthday Lily. Your Mom and Dad love you so, so much.




This picture is one that my mom took. She is wearing (my grandmother) her great-grandmother's outfit from when she was a baby. I am not sure I wore it but it is so cute and brings out her blue eyes. The head tilt she is giving just melts me.

love always,

Storms

I am sure most of you, or at least those of you that live in Knoxville, remember the storms from April of 2011. These storms were the ones that did this to Andy's truck... Well, it seems at though the East TN are can't catch a break. Last Friday we had a ton of tornado warnings. I sat in my office listening to my weather radio and texting Andy to make sure that he and Lily were safe. There was no real threat during the day to our area so I was able to make it home safely.
I have always heard that once you have a child that your life changes. That you see things differently, that you feel emotions differently and you have greater fears. I found this all to be true last Friday.
Once I got home from work I played with Lily and Andy and I started dinner. I kept the TV on the news channel so that I could keep one eye on the storm. Lily was sleeping away in her swing that is in our living room under our windows. I wanted to make sure that we were safe and if I needed to move her I could. The storms looked really strong but from what I could see they were all going to miss Knoxville and go just north and just south of us.
When we finished dinner I got Lily up, fed her and she fell asleep in my arms.

she is just the cutest thing!

The news we still reporting on the storms and there was one storm cell that looked like it was going to pass over us. As I sat in my house with the lights on, my tv telling me where the storm was, and my phone nearby I didn't really have any fears. I am not usually scared by storms. I was born in Oklahoma and am used to getting into your "safe place" for tornadoes. I did text all of our nearby family members to make sure that they were home and safe. Like I said, I wasn't scared or really very nervous. That all changed in a minute.
I am not sure what time it was, maybe 8-9ish. Andy left the room for a minute and all the lights went off in our house. I sat on the couch for a minute in complete darkness. The only noise that I could hear was the wind whipping by our house. It was so loud and I panicked. I realized that we were in danger and I was not only responsible for myself but this tiny little girl that was so innocently sleeping in my arms. I realized that she was trusting me to keep her safe from harm. I immediately got up and walked down the hall. Andy was coming the other direction with a flashlight and I told him that I was going into the hall bathroom. My heart was racing. Andy stayed so calm (not a real shocker that he is the calm one an I am not) and brought me a pillow to rest Lily on, and a candle so we were not in complete darkness. When he came by to check on us, I asked him to bring me my baby sling. He asked why and I told him that you hear all of those stories of mom's having their baby's ripped from their arms and I was not going to have that happen to Lily. I wanted her strapped to me so that I could not loose her if the storm damaged our home. He calmly brought me the wrap and didn't say a word.
I sat in the bathroom for what seemed like hours. I am sure it wasn't that long. I texted me family a few streets over who didn't loose their power and they told me that the storm had passed and we were safe.
When we came out of the bathroom the wind had calmed down and I was not so scared. I put Lily to bed in her swing and slept on the couch to make sure that she was close to me. It was only later that I read about this woman .
I can't even image her fear, but she is so strong. She saved her children. Amazing.
Now that I sit here writing this story I realize that becoming a mother has changed me in all of the ways that I mentioned before. I would do anything to protect this little girl. I love her so much!

I did ask Andy later if he thought I was nuts for asking for the sling. He said he knew the worst of the storm was passed us but he also knew that I was so scared and he didn't want to upset me, but yes, he thought I was a little nuts. Haha! I love him so much!!!

love always,

sunny day

A few weeks ago we had a really sunny day. It was cold but sunny so I propped Lily up on our dining room table for a little photo shoot. I was there the whole time and she didn't move from where I put her so it was not dangerous. I love this first picture. Not sure why and I wish my hand was not in the picture but I just love it so much. This one is to prove that we have a little red head on our hands. Please take note of her little rat tail. Gosh I love this girl.
That is all I have today. I hope that everyone is having a great day!

love always,

3 months

Sorry for taking my little blogging break. I didn't know how busy I would be taking care of my little one and enjoying my maternity leave. I am however back at work and missing my little girl everyday. I thought that I would update you on Miss Lily. Here she is at 6 weeks old. My little newborn. Looking back I can't believe she was that tiny. Here she is on her 8 week birthday. I made her that little skirt that Andy said was too short. Ha!

Here is my sweet baby girl at 12 weeks! I can't believe that I had this little angel 3 months ago. In some ways it seems like just yesterday and then in other ways I don't really remember her not being in our lives.

Lily is doing wonderful. She is growing so much and is finally looking more like a baby and less like a newborn. She is getting chunky and adding some rolls. She smiles all the time except when you put a camera in her face. She is not sleeping though the night yet and still has some rough nights which is particularly hard on Mom and Dad. She loves her swing and still sleeps there most of the time. She just started reaching and grabbing on to things and now loves to cuddle her lovey that Gigi and Granddaddy gave to her. She is almost out of her 0-3 months clothes but she is kind of short so she can still get away with wearing a few of them. She is getting more alert and loves to have someone sing to her. Usually I just make up songs with her name in them and she smiles when you sing her name. She loves to hang out and play with her dad. She loves to talk and will chat up a storm if you ask her questions.
Lily has been such a blessing to our family. We love her so much and just think that she is the cutest baby in the world.

love always,

Lily's Birth Day!

So Andy and I went to bed the night before Lily was born with our heads swimming. We were so excited to meet her and a little scared about becomeing parents.

We woke up at 5:30 since we had to be at the hospital by 6:30. We both took showers and finished getting a few things together before we headed out the door one last time knowing that when we returned that we would be parents.

We arrived at the hospital and Andy dropped me off at the door and he went to park the car. I walked through the hospital towards labor and delivery and rang the bell to get into the L & D wing. I spoke to a nurse and she showed me to my room. Words cannot describe how surreal it was walking into the room where we were going to become parents. Andy found his way to the room and we just sat there for a little while not really knowing what to do.

The nurse came back in and told me to change into my hospital gown and started my IV and the medicine that would induce my labor. We got started at about 7:30 with the IV and meds. I was still only 2 cm dialated (and had been for 2 weeks) so we called our parents and told them that it would be sometime and that they could come on over once they got ready.

Around 9:30 my doctor arrived and checked me. I was at 3-4 cm and she decided to break my water. Once they did that they put a few monitors on me to check the baby's heartrate and monitor the strength of my contractions. My doctor told me that she would be back later to check on me. She asked one more time if I was going to get an epidural and I told her that Andy and I had discussed it and that since I was induced and I knew that my contractions would come fast and very strong that I would probably end up getting one. She was totally supportive.

Once everyone left the room Andy and I just hung out. As the contractions came they were much stronger since my water had been broken and they were coming pretty quickly. By about 10:00 am my contractions were about a minute and a half apart and they were strong. Since I was hooked up to all sorts of monitors around my stomach I was having a difficult time doing my breathing and I could not really change positions to get more comfortable. Andy just looked at me and said, "you know, they are only going to get worse." I agreed and we talked for a minute and then I called the nurse's station and requested an epidural.

The woman who came to administer the epidural was wonderful. She listened to all of my concerns and questions and told me that she was going to make a few adjustments to make sure that the epidural was succesful. Let me just tell you that getting and epidural is one of the most difficult things to sit still for. Not only do you need to stay perfectly still but you are still having contractions. It was not fun but I was so glad that I got it.

We were finished with the epidural and our parents came back into the room by about 11:00 am. We all hung out for about an hour and since it did not look like anything was going to happen anytime soon so everyone except my mom decided to head to lunch about 11:45. My epidural was amazing. I could still move my legs and feel all of my contractions they just didn't hurt. Andy was so funny. He kept poking my legs and asking if i could feel it, which I could.

Dr. Evitt arrived back to my room at about 12:30. She checked me and to my surprise I was at 9-9.5 cm. I was so shocked and texted Andy immediately and said, "I am at 9. You may want to come back to the hospital." He was with his mom at lunch and said we need to get back to the hospital, Cameron is at 9. His mom was like, no way, you are kidding right. Nope we were not kidding. Dr. Evitt said that she was going to come back in about a half and hour and check me again.

Andy was pretty close to the hospital so he arrived quickly and by that time Dr. Evitt was back to check on me. I was at 10 and ready to go but she said that she was going to let me labor a little longer because her other patient was also ready to go in the room next door. The nurses that came in were joking about who was going to have their baby first. Well the other woman won. Apparently in 4 pushes she had a baby. I later found out that it was her second baby and not a fair fight.

Dr. Evitt came back in about 1:30 and we were ready to go. We got my mom, Andy's mom and Emily in the room and I started to push. Andy was great. He has always said that he wanted to be up by my head, so he sandwiched himself between my bed and a cabnet to keep himself from passing out. He was so reassuring and sweet through all of it. I felt like I pushed for hours but it was really only about an hour. I had my mom holding one leg and Emily holding the other. I was so glad though when they started to break down my bed because I knew that she was going to arrive soon. A few more pushes later Lillian Hayes Broome was here. She was placed on my chest and started screaming immedately. It was the sweetest cry I have ever heard. It was so amazing and just like that Andy and I became parents to the sweetest little girl. She is the cutest baby I have ever seen.

I cannot say enough about my doctor, Dr. Evitt. Andy says that she is my favorite person in the world. I agree that I am in awe of her. She was amazing thoughout my entire pregnancy and so supportive. I felt so comfortable and at ease in the delivery room. She was so positive and encouraging throughout the delivery. I still feel so lucky and blessed to have had her as my doctor. It is amazing to me that I basically picked her out of the phone book and had never met her or known anyone that was a patient of hers. I now know a ton of people that go to her and they all speak just as highly of her as I do.

I delivered Lillian Hayes Broome at 2:34pm. She weighed 8lbs and was 19 3/4 in long. She was perfect in every way and Andy and I feel so lucky to be her parents.

love always,