daddy day!

a tad late!

we had a great father's day weekend full of fun family festivities!

a lot of kyle's family was in town for various reasons, so we had a lot of hang out time with them.

went to church on sunday, and then had a very relaxing day!


going to church! look at jillie's sweet smile! it looks like she knows how to take a picture now!


kyle got sweeties for breakfast! (i may have had some too)

our sweet family =)

kyle, i looove being a parent with you! it's been such a fun, interesting, tiring, enjoyable last 11 weeks! i wouldn't trade it for anything. you're such a great dad, jillie's is lucky to be your baby girl! we love you!


and happy father's day to my dad! i love being your daughter! you're one of the greatest guys i know! love you!


and to jeff! thanks for giving me kyle! and please don't spoil jillie! we love you!


happy father's day to all the dad's out there!!

anniversary, rolling over, and swimming, oh my!

there's been a lot going on around here!

on monday (the 14th), kyle and i celebrated our 2 year anniversary! i cannot believe we have been married that long! it has flown by and it's crazy to think of how much has changed since that day!

kyle, i love love love being married to you! and now parenting with you! i wouldn't want to do it with anyone else! you're my favorite!

we have made it a mini tradition to take a picture on the front steps of the church where we got married each year. in this year's picture, we have a new addition!

on our wedding day..


1 year anniversary..

this year..my parents kept jillie and we just went to rockwall for the evening. we went to eat at saltgrass, then wal-mart, target, and old navy. haha. so simple, yet soo great! i forgot how great it is to wander around stores without having to worry about feeding times or dirty diapers. we had so much fun just being a couple instead of parents for a few hours.

in jillie news, big things have been happening!

she has learned to roll over from tummy to back, and it is so sweet to watch! she always looks so surprised after doing it. she actually did it first while heidi was babysitting her. heidi called and asked if she could roll over. i told her she had like twice but it was totally on accident, and heidi said, well she definitely is now and it's not on accident! (i have pictures of this, but on a different camera, and i don't have the card reader, i'll have to add them later!)

she has also started sleeping on her tummy (shh), which has made her a much better sleeper! she has slept 7 straight hours for several nights in a row! this is a dream come true, considering just last week she was still waking up like every 3-4 hours! crazy, i know.

we just had to be tough for a couple days of making her go back to sleep, and she got the hang of it so easy!

we still don't have a great routine of going to bed at the same time each night. this is soo mine and kyle's fault, because we are never at home when we should be putting her to bed. so a lot of time she falls asleep wherever we are, then when we get her home we put her to bed. so she usually sleeps in her bed like midnight till 7ish. (i know..we're bad parents to not put her to bed till midnight, but it's working for now!)

she also went swimming for the first time and loved it! well, she didn't not like it, she doesn't really show her love for things just yet (except mom and dad, of course!)



we have dipped her in the pool before just to see what she would do, but last night she stayed in the pool for over an hour! we're going to force her to be a water baby!

summer is here and we are having so much fun being outside! we try to forget kyle still has to go to work!

we just have so much fun being a family and we love every minute of it!

two months

sweet baby girl, how could you possibly be 2 months old today!?

you weigh 10 lbs 6 oz (50th percentile) and are 23 inches long (75th percentile).

at your doctor's appointment this week, you got shots, and you very clearly told me you did not like them. we spent the rest of the day spoiling you with lots of snuggling (because you're not old enough for ice cream yet)

last night (for your 2 month birthday, i guess) you went from 9:30 pm to 4:00 am between feedings!! way to go peanut! this is no small feat for you! you love to eat, and do not love to sleep, so you have been trouble spreading those feedings out at night.

maybe you're ready to be a big girl (no you're not!)

you're expressions are the sweetest things. when someone gets close to your face and talks you love give one of those big gummy smiles and talk back. and don't get me started on your dimples!


you are constantly looking around. you don't like being held like a little baby anymore. you want to be held up so you can be checking out everything going on around you.

you love love love to be outside! if you're fussy, we just have to step outside and it's insta-quiet! you would skip feedings if you were outside (don't worry, we don't let you!)

your changing table is still your favorite place to be in the whole house!


you also love to watch tv with dad.


you met your first friend last week, caleb (alison and zeb's baby). yall are about a month apart and had lots to talk about! (actually you kinda had a tummy ache that day and weren't feeling very talkative. we'll give it another try later).


you still love to be swaddled, but now you like for your arms to be free so you can stretch them out when you sleep. (here you actually fell asleep on our bed swaddle-free..doesn't happen very often!)


we got you a pair of cowboy boots for the fall which you are apparently very excited about! except it looks like you're going to have long feet like daddy so you may be growing into them sooner than i expected!


you have learned to "blow bubbles", which you think is great, but it makes for very soggy shirts most of the day!

i love to watch you figure out new tricks!

peanut, we love every single minute of you. even the times when you may be a tad bit fussy (it's ok, we all have bad days). i love love to just hold and snuggle you. you have started to rub my neck with your little chubby fingers or hold on to my necklaces. melts my heart. and daddy, he doesn't have a chance, but we will let him think he does.

love you sweet girl.

6 weeks

jillian is 6 weeks old this week!

i was going to do a month post but that came and went quickly! here she is at a month..


last week we weighed her and she was a whoppin 9 pounds! she has already gained 3 lbs..that's insane!

she has lots of new tricks..

she loves for people to talk to her and she'll smile now (like she actually knows what she's doing!) she's also started "talking" a lot and it's soo sweet!


she kicks her legs non-stop! when you lay her on her back she will kick and inch along backwards. on her changing table, she starts the diaper change at one end and by the time she's done, she has scooted all the way to the other end!

the girl is a snuggly little thing. and i looove that! i remember when i was pregnant, i told kyle, i just hope we get a snuggly baby! and we did! when you're holding her up against your chest she will scoot and wiggle till she's all tucked up under your neck. and if you lay her next to you, she wiggles herself almost completely under your side! i love it!

the down side of her being so snuggly is she doesn't love to sleep in her bed! it's more a problem with flat surfaces. she wants to be all cuddled up. she does great in her swing or bouncy seat, but we're really trying to get her to sleeping in her crib/bassinet!

the poor girl has tummy issues and spends lots of days uncomfortable. we go through mylicon likes it's going out of style! those hard days also earn her more snuggle time =) we've been letting her sleep in her swing (turned off) because it seems to give her some relief, but we're trying to not make that an un-breakable habit!

she still loves to be swaddled. she will fight sleep so much, but then you just wrap her up (or just lay a blanket over her) and she will immediately start dozing off! she comes by that honest--i won't watch tv without being covered up!

she still eats every 3 hours during the day and she has started stretching out her feeding times at night. last night she went from 12:30 to 5 am!! (but that was in her swing..probably wouldn't have been that great in her bassinet).

we're still in size 1 diapers. and we go through a lot!

oh, and it looks like her eyes are going to be a dark blue.

she is still soo sweet, and i'm loving these more alert days. each phase we get to, i want to just freeze time and soak up this stage (minus the tummy issues).

look at that little face!

mother's day

we celebrated my first mother's day on sunday and it was great!! i love being a mom, and this was just icing on the cake!

that morning we went to breakfast with all my family and celebrated mother's day for my mom!


happy mother's day ammaw!

that day was baby dedication at church, so it was great to dedicate our jillie! she did so good, and slept through the whole thing, and looked super cute doing it!



this was the only picture taken of our little family all day. it was in the parking lot at church. who knew we were going to have this dark, wintery day in may!


we spent that whole afternoon snuggling on the couch and napping. it was the perfect mother's day!

kyle surprised me with a gift card to a spa to get a massage! i'm soo excited (and a little nervous). i've never had a massage! i can't wait! and he also got me some caffeine free cokes! i was real excited about this..i call them my guilt free cokes. jillie doesn't do wonderful after i have caffeine so i have cut it out completely (well..very close to completely).

that evening we went out to dinner with kyle's family to celebrate his mom and grandmothers.


happy mother's day gigi!


it was a great day to be a mom!

i adore every minute of having my sweet jillie girl. this is definitely what i am meant to do. i love it! even the "trying times" bring joy.

she melts my heart daily!


happy mother's day to all the mom's out there! (a couple days late, but it wouldn't be my blog if it was on time!)

life as the 3 of us

we have adapted well to becoming a family of 3 and we are liking it quite a bit.

here are random (quite random) highlights from our life in the last few weeks..

at jillie's 2 week appointment, she weighed 6 lbs 14 oz, and was 20 1/2 inches long. she's gained almost a pound since we left the hospital!

she is still eating every 3 hours, almost on the dot!

when we first brought her home, we had a hard time getting her to nap during the day. well, she has switched that up. she now naps great during the day time, but puts up a fight to sleep at night.

we've just started trying the whole "crying it out" thing, and that is not fun for anyone involved!

once jillie is asleep (usually about midnight), then she eats every 3 hours and then is ready to get up about 8 am when kyle is leaving for work. so we're really not losing too much sleep..can't complain!

the doctor thought she might have colic, due to some of her symptoms (screaming at the exact same time each evening/night), but we've kind of adapted a few things, and she seems to be doing better. one of those things being zero caffeine for mom (ouch) and jillie getting mylicon at each feeding. she still fusses at those times, but has taken the screaming down a few notches. which we appreciate!

just about every evening we take a walk. the girl loves loves loves to be outside! she just looks around and is so content. so we head outside when we can tell the fussiness is coming!

she loves her baby bjorn! it's her favorite mode of transportation!

she doesn't love being in the car. and when i say doesn't love, she lasts about 5 minutes before she decides she would "rather be somewhere else".

jillie has really taken to her swing. she didn't love it at first, but they have become good friends. she's actually in it right now. it buys a lot of time for mom to get stuff done.

i have learned it takes a lot of strategy to get things done during the day!

after all the randomness of our life, here are some pictures of our sweet girl..

jillian grace

she's here!

we've had her for 11 days now and time is already passing too fast!

i quickly learned that you fore go certain "luxuries" when your life turns into 3 hour increments and blogging was one of those!

her "birth story"..

--on april 5th, we got to the hospital at 4:30 am to start the induction process. (we tried everything to get her here naturally, but she wouldn't have it). when we got to the hospital my blood pressure was sky high! like..wow..HIGH! my blood pressure has not been high my entire pregnancy, but apparently my body didn't like being in labor. so immediately we were on "blood pressure precautions" and having to lay a certain way, keep the lights out, no visitors, just chill.

--the pitocin started at about 5 am and within minutes we were ticking off some pretty intense contractions every 1-2 minutes. it was a good sign i was responding so easily to the pitocin, but we were contracting a little too much, we had to back off the pitocin just a tad. and my blood pressure was coming down..things were looking good.

--jillian decides she doesn't want to tolerate the labor and dropped her heart rate to the 80's-90's. (should be 120-160). and my blood pressure was back up. doctor broke my water at this time. of course my fluid was meconium stained, just to make matters worse! the plan for now was to try to deliver as soon as possible to solve blood pressure and heart rate issues.

--at about 3pm we decided to get an epidural to see if it would help me and baby chillax. well, it did and everything was going great! i was dilating and our strips were looking great, so i was very relieved!

--well, she decided to be stubborn a few more times and drop her heart rate for several minutes at a time, which scares the poo out of all the docs and nurses. we kinda discussed a c-section if it keeps happening, but nothing to seriously.

--at 8 pm i was dilated to an 8, but our strips weren't looking great. the doctor decided to call a c-section at this time. they wanted to get it done before it became an emergency situation for baby's heart rate. insert 15 minutes here for me to completely break down because things weren't going as we had "planned".

-- we got ready for the c-section and headed to the O.R. well, apparently there happened to be an emergency situation, so they went to the O.R. first and we waited.

--during the time we waited, jillian's heart rate dropped to the 70's and wouldn't come back up. now it turned into a stat c-section and all craziness broke loose. all the staff was great and they got her out so quick!

--she started crying immediately, all i could see was kyle's eyes because of all his O.R. gear, and they were all squinty from smiling so big.

--she was so perfect and healthy, despite all the issues of the day!


here we are waiting to go into the O.R.


meeting jillian for the first time!


kyle carried jillie from the O.R. to the nursery.


my first time to see jillian after leaving the O.R.









she is the most precious thing ever! the first night with her was so surreal, i just kept looking at her, and couldn't believe she was ours!

i don't know if motherhood is what i "expected" or not. it's not any harder or easier than i thought. i literally love every minute of it! i actually love feeding her at night. i'm always a little sad when we have to put her to bed each night because we want her to stay up with us!

we're still getting into the routine with everything. she does not like sleeping during the day, so that is our only struggle right now. she is sleeping great at night though, so i'm ok with that trade off!

we are absolutely loving life as a family of 3!

we'll catch up on the rest of her life at a later date..someone is ready to eat!