Happy 1st birthday to my Gracie! From the moment I first laid eyes on you one year ago, I felt an indescribable love that I never knew existed. I love you with every inch of my being, and I am so blessed that you chose me to be your Mommy. You light up your dad’s and my lives more than you will ever know. You are the most happy, loving, kind, energetic, beautiful, strong, goofy, and charismatic person, and you radiate love and light to all those around you. I have loved watching you grow this past year and sharing your “firsts” with you, and I look forward to what this next year brings. I love you with all my heart, Monkey. I met you on June 30 last year, but the truth is, I’ve loved you my whole life. Happy 1st birthday my love<3
As I look back on 2015, I can’t help but smile.This is the year our beautiful daughter was
born.After a long journey to become pregnant, we met our sweet miracle girl on June 30th, and our lives
were forever changed for the better.
So
many wonderful things have happened in 2015, including the following:
February: Montana with family to go snowboarding, although I had to sit this one out since I was pregnant
April: Palm Springs with my hubby for our baby moon
August: Montana with the family including all the babies...Grace's first vacation and first time on an airplane!!
Misc.
Gracie celebrated some of her first major holidays, including, 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas
I celebrated 6 years in my career at Molina Healthcare
My hubby and I celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary with dinner at Morton's followed by the Ducks game (we had glass seats too!!!)
Ran/walked the Turkey Trot this year with 5 month old Gracie in the BOB jogger stroller...my first 5K post partum and her first 5K ever!
Dad sold his house, which is the house my brother and I grew up in...we had a final farewell party that was pretty epic! :)
Gracie took swim lessons for a few months and loved them!
I'm sure there are other exciting happenings I forgot to mention, but I will just blame that on my mommy brain :) 2015 was an incredible year filled with so many blessings and new beginnings. I look forward to see what 2016 has to offer! Until then, have a safe and happy New Year's Eve tonight!
And just like that, my little
monkey is 6 months old! She loves chewing on her hands, grabbing her
feet, and playing in curtains. She loves to laugh and smile, and she
thinks her dogs are the funniest things in the world. She is constantly
rolling over, so we have to keep a watchful eye on her. She can sit
unassisted for a good period of time but she prefers to stand. I swear
this girl is going to walk before she crawls. Her favorite thing to do is
bounce/jump. She loves to grab everything and put it in her mouth {toys,
mommy’s necklaces, spoons, paper, and more), except bananas or avocado.
Her favorite foods are peas, sweet potatoes, and butternut squash; she is not a
fan of apples. She lights up when she sees Mom and Dad. She is
approximately 17 pounds of pure happiness, and is the light of my hubby’s and
my world. Happy ½ birthday, my darling girl. Your daddy and I love you to
infinity and beyond.
"'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds;
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads."
Merry Christmas Eve! It's hard to believe that Christmas is tomorrow, and it's Gracie's 1st Christmas! Even though she will only be 6 months on the 30th, she has more presents under the tree than anyone else :) We definitely spoil our little girl, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
This year is a little unconventional, as my hubby and I are hosting Christmas Eve dinner tonight! This is the big celebration in my family, and for the past 40+ years, Mom and Dad have always hosted; Dad makes his famous spaghetti and meatballs that he learned from his Italian god father many years ago. Recently, some very exciting things have happened that gave hubby and I the opportunity to take on the family tradition and host. My Daddy got married!!! I absolutely love his wife, my stepmom, and I am beyond happy they found each other. More of that in a later post though :) Since they recently got hitched, and are moving in together and settling in, my house is the party house this year for tonight's festivities. Dad is still cooking though (phew!).
I am so excited for tonight. As I said, Christmas Eve is our big shindig...lots of wine, laughter, Christmas music, more laughter, and this year, BABIES!!!!!! We have four babies in the family who will be celebrating their first Christmas Eve and Christmas this year...my Gracie, my cousin's daughter who was born 10 days after Gracie, and my other cousin's twin boys who are 6 months older than Gracie. We cannot wait to see their little faces light up :) And I have a super cute Christmas Eve dress for Gracie to wear :)
With that said, I am going to leave a few pictures of our happy girl here for you to enjoy:
Gracie's 1st time meeting Santa
Sweeter than a Gingerbread Latte (onesie courtesy of @perfectlysparkledd)
Words
can't adequately express the insurmountable love and joy my husband and I feel
about our darling angel, Grace. Our sweetheart was born on Tuesday, June
30th at 4:22pm, and she is absolutely perfect. From the labor,
to the delivery, to seeing her and holding her in my arms for the first time,
to hearing her little cry, to seeing her little smile, my life has changed
forever in the most beautiful and profound way.
It
all began Monday, June 29th, with a visit to my doctor at which time she
informed me I was still 3cm dilated, same as the week before, and 80% effaced.
She was convinced I would go into labor any day now, but just to be safe,
we scheduled an appointment to induce me the following week in case I needed
it. Sean said to me as we were walking out of the doctor's office, "Perhaps
that's exactly what your subconscious needs to get things moving."
Boy, was he right. That evening my contractions started to get a
little more intense.
Around
3am on Tuesday morning, I was jolted awake by a very strong contraction.
They were still pretty far apart at this point, but I knew my body was
going into labor. From that point on, Sean and I didn't get much sleep.
We labored at home until about 7am, when my contractions started getting much
closer together. We practiced everything we learned from our Bradley
Method classes, including walking, breathing, massage, laboring on the birthing
ball, squatting, and more.I also made
sure to eat something, rest, and take a warm shower.
By
8am, my contractions were 2-4 minutes apart, lasting at least 60 seconds.
If they continued like this for an hour or two, that would be our queue
to go to the hospital. We knew it was imminent, so Sean took the pups to
the doggie hotel where they would stay for a few days. When he came back,
I said it was go time! I will never forget the drive to the hospital.
It was only 15 minutes, but it was the most beautiful day! The sky
was bright blue with not one cloud in sight, and the sun was shining ever so
brightly. Sean and I both said to each other that it was the perfect day
for our daughter's birth day.
We
checked in at the hospital around 10:15am, and they admitted me right away.
When they got me into my triage room and examined me, I was 4cm dilated and
nearly 100% effaced. Sean's mom, who was my doula, arrived shortly
thereafter. Per my birth plan, I did not want to be strapped down to a
fetal monitoring machine because I wanted to move around and labor in various
positions that were comfortable to me.The nurses were great in honoring this, and so I labored while standing
and made sure to walk in between contractions.At this point, when a contraction hit, I was most comfortable standing
and bending over the bed.Sean massaged
me and made sure to keep me relaxed, while my mom-in-law played music and
talked to me.
An
hour later, I was moved to our labor and delivery room, where we met our
wonderful nurse, Gerri. She was out-of-this-world and took extra great
care of us!Coincidentally, our
photographer, Lisa of SisterLee Photography, is Gerri's niece! They had
no idea they were working the same patient/client until we all were in the same
room. What a small world! We gave Gerri a copy of our birth plan
and let her know that I did not want any drugs, including an epidural, nor did
I want to be strapped down for fetal monitoring unless we were concerned Grace
was in distress.Gerri enthusiastically
said no problem, and let me labor in the room however I was comfortable.She honored everything in our birth plan.She was incredible!
Shortly
after settling into our L&D room, Gerri wanted to check my dilation.As she did, she looked at me with excitement
and said, “Dang girl!You’re already
9cm!”Grace was also very low at this
point; she was at a +2 station (the birthing stations are on a scale from -3 to
+3).Gerri also let me know that my bag
of waters was bulging and that we had two options:I could labor and see if it broke on it’s
own, which could take a few hours, or she could break it for me, which would
speed up the labor but make it more intense.Without hesitation and a big smile on my face I replied, “Let’s break
it!”I didn’t feel anything as she broke
it, but as soon as she did, I felt a warm sensation in my pelvic area.Here we go!And she was right…my contractions grew closer together and became much
more intense.I channeled the pain from
each contraction and used it as a power source to bring Gracie down and closer
to greeting the world.I knew with each
contraction, I was that much closer to meeting my daughter.
Things
started to get significantly more intense.As it turns out, my bulging bag of waters had stretched my cervix to
9cm, so when we popped it, my cervix shrunk down to 7cm.After breaking my water, I labored for three
excruciating hours where my contractions were one on top of the other with
hardly a minute in between.I couldn’t
get comfortable so for a while I moved frequently changing my labor positions.I labored in the shower with warm water
running over me, in a squatting position, on my hands and knees, sitting on the
toilet, and laying on my side, all the while with Sean holding my hand, rubbing
my back, rubbing my head, and speaking calming and loving things to me.His mom was unbelievable as well.She had relaxing music playing and talked me
through each contraction by telling me to focus on certain instruments in the
songs, and helping me to control my breathing.
After
an hour of laboring in various positions, I had to lie in bed on my side.My contractions were so strong that I
couldn’t move anymore, and Grace was so low that my body’s natural instinct was
to push, however I couldn’t yet because I wasn’t completely dilated and didn’t
want to tear.My mom-in-law held my hands
and we were face to face for every contraction with her breathing deep while I
mimicked her to keep me from hyperventilating.There were times I squeezed her hands so hard I thought I broke
them.Sean continued to rub my back and
speak calming things to me.They kept me
focused, calm, and most importantly, they kept me breathing.There were a couple times I almost lost focus
and almost lost my breath, but my mom-in-law brought me back to deep breathing
before I lost control.I remember going
into an almost trance-like state of mind, an out-of-body experience of sorts.
About
3 hours after we broke my water, the pressure in my pelvic area was nearly
unbearable, and the urge to push was now impossible to resist.I looked at Gerri and said, “I’m a 10, I know
it!”She measured me, and sure enough, I
was dilated to 10cm!It was time to
push!Gerri had already set everything
up and my doctor arrived right away.I
asked for a mirror so I could see my little darling emerge.I gave one big push and there was her
head!I remember seeing a black, slimy
ball!It was her.It was my daughter!I couldn’t believe how much hair she had and
how dark it was!We thought she’d be a
little blondie or red-haired girl.I
gave a second big push and felt a huge relief of pressure in my pelvis.Her head was out!!With the next contraction I pushed again, and
out popped her shoulders and the rest of her body.She was here, and she was perfect.She was so alert with her eyes open.The doctor called Sean over to cut the cord,
and so he did.Then they immediately
placed Gracie on my chest, and I felt an insurmountable feeling of love and
joy.She latched on to my boob right
away and fed for the next hour and a half!Sean and I cried tears of joy.This
little bundle was ours.We had a
daughter.After years of trying, our
dream of starting our family finally came true.We couldn’t stop staring at her with her chubby cheeks, full cupid lips,
deep blue eyes, full head of hair, and teeny tiny feet and hands.She weighed a perfect 7lbs 2oz, and was 18.5”
long.My brother had just arrived and
came into the room with us.There was
never so much love in a single room as there was in this moment.Me, Sean, my mom-in-law, my daddy, my
brother, my soon-to-be-step-mom were all crying tears of joy with the biggest
smiles on our faces.We were in complete
awe of this darling little being that I just brought into the world.I’ve never been so happy in all my life.
Everything
about my labor and birth went so smoothly and I am so grateful for that.Sean and I prepared, mentally, physically,
and emotionally, and it paid off.I gave
birth without drugs, without tearing, and without an episiotomy.My “drugs” were my husband and his mom and
all the relaxation and breathing techniques we had practiced for months on
end.That was the way I wanted to give
birth, and so we did it.I could not
have done it without my husband as my coach as my mom-in-law as my doula.They kept me calm, focused, relaxed, and
determined.It was a quick labor, as I
only labored at the hospital for 6 hours, and only pushed for about 10
minutes.Grace was ready to greet the
world, and the world was ready to meet her :)
Below
is a quick birth story video (don’t worry, it’s very classy and tasteful) along
with some pictures our photographer took.She captured the beauty, pain, fatigue, strength, and love during the
labor and birth of our sweet angel, and I’m beyond happy.
