CafeMom Tickers

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Call me weird, but...

Have you ever noticed how a sandwich or something of that sort tastes different if you just turn it over?? I started thinking about this again yesterday.. I've always noticed that I prefer my sandwiches a certain way. For instance, when I eat a marshmallow creme and peanut butter sandwich..the marshmallow creme HAS to be on the bottom when I bite into it or else I think it's gross! And it's so delicious when I bite into it with the PB on top and the marshmallow on bottom. But here is where it gets even stranger to me.. When eating an Egg McMuffin from MD's, I turn it to where the cheese is on the bottom, sausage in the middle, and egg on top...but if I have a turkey or ham sandwich, I want the cheese on the TOP! It all tastes completely different if it's turned the other way!! And I do NOT like it when it's turned a particular way. Please tell me I'm not the only one who does this or has thought about it??? Maybe you should think about it now and try it out.. and let me know that maybe I'm NOT too crazy!?! HAHA!!!

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Never Leave Your Partner Behind...

Last night, Brandon and I watched a movie called "Fireproof" that was highly recommended by a guy that Brandon works with. It's a Christian-based movie about a fireman and his wife who go through a rocky time in their marriage and start proceedings of a divorce, but the husbands father talks him into this 40-day experiment to try to save his marriage. I don't want to tell too much information about it, but it was a GREAT movie! It doesn't have the best actors in it, but the message is so great..you don't even think about how they aren't the best of actors! Brandon and I were both teary eyed and emotional during the whole movie. It will definitely make you think about how you treat your spouse and make you re-evaluate your marriage! It made me realize that sometimes I, myself, need to let small things go instead of sometimes nagging about it. I encourage you to watch this movie and recommend it to your family and friends. They also have this AMAZING site: FireProofMyMarriage.com where you can watch the trailer for the movie, find inspirational stuff for you and your loved one, find help if you need it..or you can even purchase the "Love Dare" book that is featured in the movie!!! Check it out! After the movie, they had a couple other previews for movies that are also Christian-based and we definitely want to see too..They are called "Facing the Giants" and "Faith Like Potatoes".. check those out too!! I just wanted to share this because it definitely touched both Brandon and I!

fireproofbanner

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Birth Announcement

After Garrett was born, of course we wanted to send out Birth Announcements. Yes, we'd put it in the Springhill Press, but..that's not "good enough" for me! I wanted something with color and something really special to keep! After MUCH research and trying to decide.. We went with Purple Stork online. They have very unique announcements and will customize it until you LOVE it (which doesn't take much). You send in multiple pictures and they put the announcement together for you..Brandon and I liked two different pictures for the "main picture" so we had to decide between the two below... and we went with the second one, which is what I had picked out!!! I got an e-mail from Purple Stork asking for my permission to post Garrett's announcment on their blog because it was one of their favorites!! They even e-mailed me when I submitted them and told them how precious our baby is and they can't believe the smile on his face in the picture at the bottom!! It makes me feel so good to know that other people think my baby is so precious and amazing too! I just wanted to HIGHLY RECOMMEND using Purple Stork for birth announcements because they are so personable and sweet..and do amazing work!!

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Playing Catch Up!!!

I don't even really know where to begin!! I am SOOOOOOO far behind!!! So while I have a few minutes free.. I'm going to catch up!

First thing - I AM A MOMMY NOW!!! Which explains why I haven't been on here to update my blog!! The last time I was on here was when I'd had pain in my ribs and had to go to the hospital and all of that... Needless to say, the end of my pregnancy was extremely miserable.. yet so worth it in the long run! After my appointment on January 2nd, Dr. Ratcliff decided to admit me to the hospital at 9 pm on Sunday the 4th and we'd induce. So Sunday evening, before going to the hospital, Brandon, me, Momma, Jeffrey, MeMaw, and Granddaddy all had steaks and baked potatoes at MeMaw's house for our "last supper" without a baby around and played cards!! I was pretty relaxed and not really stressed at all.. I think it was because I was so ready to have my baby! After dinner and cards, Brandon, Mom, and I headed to El Dorado for the hospital! I got checked in and they gave me some meds to help thin my cervix. It had to stay in my cervix for about 7 hours. After the first two hours of laying flat after inserting the medication to help thin my cervix thin out, they allowed me to have a snack before I couldn't eat or drink anything else until after I had Garrett. It was a little after midnight when they gave me my snack and they said I REALLY needed to rest up for the day to come! So they gave me some Ambien.. and let me tell you... I don't remember much after that. I had reverse reaction to that medicine! I was WIDE AWAKE and hallucinating. I thought I was in a rocking chair and thought it was floating.. Mom and Brandon said I was saying some pretty off the wall stuff! HA.. Well, around 5 am, the nurses came in and let me take a shower (which I also don't remember!) before Dr. Ratcliff came in to remove the strip and before they started my IV with Pitocin. After starting the Pitocin, Dr. Ratcliff came in around 8 am (I think) to break my water and after that..my contractions were VERRRRYYYYY intense. I don't remember much of it because Mom said they gave me a shot of some strong medications to help me relax and help with the pain, but I do remember them being horrible. Pretty much, all of this is what I was told by Brandon and Mom since I don't remember much. At about 10:30 am, two nurses came rushing in and were trying to get me to shift around and prop my knees on pillows. You could clearly tell they were panicking. They said Garrett's heart rate would drop down to almost nothing and then jump back up to over 200 beats per minute, so they knew something wasn't right. Another nurse came in and said "I paged Dr. Ratcliff and put 911 on it" and at that point..we got really scared. Only a couple minutes later, Dr. Ratcliff was there and watching the monitior. He said it appeared that the umbilical cord was wrapped around Garrett's neck and the baby was also under stress and we needed to have an emergency c-section right away. Since I had not had an epidural, the doctor said they would need to put me to sleep because we didn't have time for an epidural. So they rushed me off to the OR... I remember being really upset and crying because they wouldn't even let Brandon or Momma come in with me since it was an emergency and they had to rush to get me to sleep and stuff. It didn't take long, obviously because our precious son was born at 10:58 am on January 5th, 2009! He weighed 7 pounds 4 1/2 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches long. I remember when I was kind of waking up in recovery, I asked the nurse if my baby was okay and my second question was "Did he have any hair?" HAHA! We just KNEW he was going to be bald..we didn't even get him a little brush! But the nurse said YES! He did have quite a bit of hair. I was so anxious to meet my little man, but it was a few hours before I got to... but I didn't even realize it because I was so out of it. After they woke me up, they had me on a Morphine Drip for the pain since I didn't have an epidural or anything...so that kept me "drunk" and I still wouldn't remember most of everything!! I do remember when they finally took me back out to see my family..we turned the corner and they stopped me in front of the baby nursery and Brandon was in there with them.. and they held Garrett up to the window and he was crying and I just started bawling and looked at my amazing husband who was looking at me with much concern! It was such a sweet moment and I'm thankful that I at least remember that and I will hold onto that memory FOREVER. So I finally got to meet my son when he was about 5 or 6 hours old, I think! He's soooooooo perfect!!! I did exceptionally well to have had a c-section, I believe! I had a pretty good recovery and didn't have much problem out of it. I got released from the hospital on Wednesday the 7th.. the hour and a half ride home was NOT fun though.. I felt like all of my insides were shaking around and were so tender and sore!! That was the WORST! But...The first few nights were scary! It's kinda scary not knowing what to expect being a new Mom and having to deal with it all with an incision from c-section makes it a little more scary! However, I had my Momma and Brandon with me who were both tremendous help with EVERYTHING!!! I couldn't ask for a better husband and Momma! We had a couple rough nights, but once he was able to take breastmilk everything started getting better (they thought I had mastitis and had to feed him formula for the first 5 days). Being a Mommy is soooo amazing! I can't even explain it. He's the most precious thing ever..SERIOUSLY! He has the sweetest cry and most beautiful blue eyes! He is his Daddy MADE OVER with the receding hair line (ha) and curved toes but with my big eyes! We couldn't be any happier with our new little family! Garrett has blessed us in so many ways. I can't believe he's almost 7 weeks old already. It goes by way too fast. I know you hear this all the time, but you NEVER know how much you can love someone until you have a baby of your own!! Here are a couple of pictures of him:

Right after I got to meet him for the first time!


Our Little Family about to Leave the Hospital for HOME!


One of my best friends, Crystal, captured this AMAZING picture when Garrett was only 5 days old while I was burping him! He was smiling SO BIG! This is my favorite!!


A picture that I took of him when he was about 2 weeks old:


His FIRST Valentines Day!


As you can see, he is a VERY happy baby! We couldn't ask for a better natured and happy baby!! I know it's hard to believe, but he LOVES the cartoon Handy Manny. I turned it on a couple days ago and he was watching it from his swing..he was "talking" to the TV and he even laughed when the hammer was fixing something! It was the most adorable thing!! As a matter of a fact, he's in his swing asleep now..he was watching Handy Manny before he went to sleep!

We had some professional pictures taken and if you'd like to see them, here is the link:
www.iveysphotography.com/neal/

Lets see...Other than Garrett being born and blessing our lives and keeping us so so busy.. I FINALLY got to see Brian and spend time with him a couple weeks ago!!! He's doing soooooooo amazing and I'm so proud of him! We had a great time hanging out with each other and all of our friends together!! I also got to finally meet little Levi. Brian and Ashley got married a few weeks ago also!! I was so happy to finally meet her too..and I can't wait until the BIG wedding day!!! Here are a couple pictures from when Brian was home!

Mr. and Mrs. Brian Adams!!


Their ADORABLE son Levi Douglas Adams


Best Friends with Our Babies! (who weren't very happy at picture time!)

Our Old Crew - Best Friends Forever!!!


I am so proud of you, Brian!!!! Love you!


Ashley and Myself. Even though I'd just met her, I felt like I've known her all my life!


This is all I have time for now, but I hope to keep up with this blog and keep updates on Garrett and stuff on here as much as possible because I LOVE to blog! Thanks for stopping by (if anyone does, LOL)