Its been a while...

Well...for those one you who thought that I forgot that I had a blog, I didn't. I've just been extremely busy with work, and baby and home. I do a brief update and let you know whats been happening with us.

October:
Back in October we went up to Fort Worth to see my Aunt Denise who came down from MN. It was the first time she got to meet Ainsley and Patrick. My Aunt Debbie was also there from CA and we got to have a great fellowship with family. It was the first time that both of my Aunts got to meet the babies (Boston and Ainsley). Oh, and Ainsley rolled over for the first time, very exciting. We also took a trip to a pumpkin patch and that was lots of fun.

November:
What can I say, November is kind of a blur. Its a busy month in our family, lots of birthdays and anniversaries. Patrick and I took our first real vacation as husband and wife for our Anniversary on the 16th. It was my first time leaving Ainsley over night and it was very difficult for me even though I knew she was in good hands. Thank you to Justin and Rachel and my mom and mimaw for watching her for us. We went to New Orleans on our trip. We went to Harrah's casino and did a little gambling, we went to the aquarium and Imax, we went on a ghost tour of the french quarter and we ate lots of good food. The ghost tour was by far my favorite thing. I definitely recommend it to anyone going to New Orleans. There are several different tours of different areas of the city. Oh, we also went on a swamp tour, which was also fun.
Thanksgiving was great. We went to my parents house this year. It was a very busy few days, but it was fun. Me, my mom and my sister did some black Friday shopping and got some really great deals. We also took the kids to have some Christmas pictures made. They did so well, very photogenic children we all have.

December:
Well...so far its just been busy busy busy. I'm overwhelmed at work because of course everything I've been working on is due by the end of the year (lots of pressure :S). Ainsley just got her first 2 teeth. They showed up last Wedneday. I can't believe my baby already has teeth. She is getting so big. She now weighs in a 17lbs and 7 oz. I think she now looks more like Patrick. Her hair is getting so long and we might need to get it trimmed soon. Its started to get in her eyes.

Thats all I can think of right now and I will try to post more often.

I'm Back

Ainsley trying on her new party dress

Cousins at the pumpkin patch

little caterpillar

Mommy's little penguin

I know it has been awhile since I last posted, but life has been crazy and busy. We had a hurricane which I am sure everyone knows about. It was very scary and I have decided that I don't need to experience anymore. Next time we will definitely be going to Fort Worth. We are all fine and the house was okay too. We did have a tree on the house, but it didn't do any damage to the roof. Life has been busy but everything is going well. I have been having these dizzy spells for months now and I was recently diagnosed with and severe imbalance of my balance system. Which basically means my inner ear isn't working like its supposed to. My left inner ear works at 100%, but my right inner ear only works at 50%. I have to go to vestibular rehab where I have to train my brain to ignore the signal from my right inner ear and only accept the signals from my left inner ear.



Ainsley is doing very well. She is getting so big. She's getting chubby little legs and cheeks. We got her Halloween costume last night and we couldn't decide so we got two. One is a little caterpillar and the other is a penguin. They are so cute. You can kinda tell from the pictures above that she was kinda thinking "What are you guys doing to me?"


This past weekend me and Ainsley went to Fort Worth for Brayden's 4th birthday party. Ainsley got to wear her cute little party dress probably for the first and last time, because it was a little snug. But it looked so cute. We also took all three cousins to the Dallas Arboretum where they have a pumpkin patch.



We're all doing well. I just wanted to update everyone since I have been MIA for a little while. I will post more soon. We are going to take Ainsley to the pumpkin patch this weekend so check back for updates on that.

Update

We are NOT moving to Arkansas. We'll just say that it didn't work out, but the good news is that I got hired full time at my job. We are now preparing for Hurricane Ike and I'm a little nervous, but hopefully everything will be ok. We are all doing well. Ainsley slept in in the living room last night and it was her first night out of our room, which I wasn't quite ready for, but she is too big for her bed that is in our room. So we had to move her into her big Pack n' Play that is in the living room. She has become quite the little inchworm. She scoots herself around with her legs while she is sleeping, so she kept waking up because she would push herself up in to the corner of her bed. I'm sure when I will be able to post again because we could be without power for awhile because of the hurricane. Please pray for us and all the Houston area residents that we will make it through the storm safely.

Big News

Well...I haven't been able to blog lately, its been kind of a crazy week. Last week, we were a bit overwhelmed by a couple of things. First of all, last Monday night, we had been out running errands and when we got home at about 8:00pm I let Maverick outside. We put Ainsley down to bed and had been doing a few things and I realized that it had been a while and I hadn't heard Maverick scratching a the door. I asked Patrick to go check on the dog, so he went outside and he was out there for a few minutes and when he came back in Maverick was with him, but he was walking really slow. Patrick said "He's acting like he did something wrong", because whenever he gets on the furniture or gets in the trash he cowers down because he knows that he did something that he wasn't supposed to. I saw him and I said "No, he looks like something is wrong with him". So he came over to him and I looked him over to see if I could find anything wrong with him. His legs and paws looked okay, so I wasn't sure. He wouldn't even lift his head up to look at me. After discussing it with Patrick, I looked him over again, and when I lifted his head up to look at him, I noticed that the right side of his nose was swollen compared to the other side. He went and laid down on his bed and he was looking really pitiful. I asked Patrick if he thought that he could have been bitten by a snake. As soon as i said it, Patrick was like "yeah, I bet that's exactly what happened". Most likely it was a copperhead, because we have tons of them out here. Mav was getting progressively worse and i was really worried about him. I told Patrick to call the vet and they said that he needed to be seen as soon as possible. Patrick asked me if I wanted to wait until the morning to take him because it would be cheaper and I said "I don't want him to die tonight because we didn't take him to the vet". Patrick doesn't understand that Maverick is very important to me and I'll do anything for him. So Patrick loaded him up in the car and took him to the vet. He said by the time they got there Mav's nose was very swollen and he was drooling uncontrollably. The gave him some shots and sent him home with some medicine. We they got home he was already looking better. The next morning he was back to normal. I was so happy that he was okay. So that was the first crazy thing that happened last week.
At the beginning of last week my dad was telling me about a job that one of my parents friends had mentioned to them. It was a job for Patrick doing pretty much the same thing he does now except for he would make 3 times as much as he does now. The catch is that its in Hot Springs, Arkansas. I listened while my dad told me about it, but I didn't really even consider it because it so far away and they need someone there in 2 weeks. On Tuesday Patrick found out that his days off would no longer be the weekends, they would be Wednesday and Thursday. Not long after Patrick found out that bit of news, my dad called him to tell him about the job in Arkansas. When I got home on Tuesday, Patrick told me about this new schedule and that my dad had called and talked to him. I was a little overwhelmed by the news, okay I was very overwhelmed. I realized that the job in Arkansas was something that we really needed to think about, because it isn't feasible for our family for Patrick to have to work every weekend. it basically means that Patrick would never see me and Ainsley, because he would have to work on the only days that I am off. This obviously is ridiculous. The longer we stay here the worse things get and Patrick finally realized that we have to make a change. So we decided that we are moving to Arkansas. Not only do they have a job for Patrick but there is a job for me and I would be able to take Ainsley with me. We couldn't really think of a reason to turn down this opportunity. Wednesday we needed to get more information before we made a real decision about it. Patrick talked to the lady and got some of our questions answered. We pretty much made a decision to just go for it and move to Arkansas. On Thursday, my office manager at work asked if I could come by and see her at some point. I knew that she was going to offer me a full time position with the company because up until this point I have been a temp. I waited to talk to her, because I needed to talk to Patrick at lunch. I needed to know what to tell her when she offered me a job. After lunch I went and talked to her and just as I thought, she offered me a job. After she finished telling be about everything, I told her that my husband had been offered a job and that we were waiting for the letter of intent before we made a final decision. If we stay I definitely want to take the position, but either way Patrick is getting a new job because this one no longer works for our family. Anyways, that's what has been going on with us lately. Oh, if we do go to Arkansas, we have to be there by October 1st. I'll keep you posted on the move, right now, its still pending. I have to give my work a decision by the end of the week, so we have to know something by then.

2 Months old!!!!

Our baby girl is 2 months old. Here are her 2 month stats

• Weight 11 lbs 12 oz - 75 percentile
• Length 23 inches - 75 percentile

She is growing so fast. I know I promised some pictures last week but I just haven't had a chance to upload them. I am finally going to be sending out birth announcements in the next couple of days. Better late than never, Right??

Ainsley got her first set of vaccines today. It was not fun for her or me. Patrick usually goes to the doctor with us, but he is out of town, so it was just the girls today. She was in the best mood this morning, just smiling and laughing. Then they gave her five shots. She started screaming, it was the saddest little cry. I almost cried. I just knew she was thinking "mommy why are you letting them do this to me?" and that killed me. Next time its daddy's turn because I don't think i can do that again.

Well I do have a little bit of a funny story that happened on Wednesday night. It has been raining down here all week, and Wednesday evening the rain had stopped and it was pretty cool outside, so we decided to take Ainsley on her first walk. We put her in her umbrella stroller since she can hold her head up now and its a lot cooler than the big one. We put her mosquito net on the stroller and we were ready to go. We walked down to Deer Lake and just hang out for a little bit. As we were getting ready to go back home, Maverick found a stop on the side of the road where some animal dug up a turtles nest. There were little baby turtles all over, but they were dead or so we thought. One turtle appeared to be moving, so Patrick picked it up. It was Alive!! Patrick took it over to the water to rinsed him off. He said that the turtle looked okay and that we could take it home. While we were focused on washing the turtle, Maverick ran back to the nest and grabbed a dead turtle and processed to eat it. Maverick has a very weak stomach, I mean very very weak stomach. Sometimes he even throws up his special dog food. He frequently leaves up little surprises all over the house. This is not a dog that can just go around eating dead things, and he ate a dead turtle. Patrick tried to get it from him but it was too late. After that we started back home. Maverick was lagging behind and I turned around to see why. I saw him pretty far behind up rolling all around on his back. Patrick went over to see what he was doing and discovered that he was rolling in a dead skunk. Yes, that's right, I said SKUNK. I was like "you have got to be kidding me, what else is this silly dog going to do". He smelled awful, that is definitely a smell like no other. I knew they had some products at Petco, but I wasn't sure how late the were open. I was praying it was until at least 9pm because it was already 8:15. We got home and Maverick decided to dart in the house as we walked in. Patrick literally threw him out the door. I grabbed my purse and headed to Petco to get some Shunk odor remover. Let me tell you, that stuff is a miracle. The smell was instantly got, once Patrick put it on him. All in all it was a pretty interesting evening.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Life has gotten a little busy with me being back at work and having a baby, a husband and a dog to take care of. I have decided that I am going to try to at least post once a week so I can keep everyone updated on Ainsley and our life with her. I've also decided that I am going to post a picture of her each week so that everyone can see how much she is growing. I don't want anyone to miss any part of her life just because we don't live close. She is getting so big, everyday she seems to be a little bit bigger and I'm starting to understand why they say that "they grow up so fast". Its because they really do. It seems like just yesterday that she was born and now she is almost 2 months old. She is really a good baby, we got so lucky. She's always happy. She only cries when she is hungry and even that is rare. She has finally started to increase the amount of hours she is sleeping at night (knock on wood). I don't want to jinx it. Last night she slept for 8 hours. Of course, I didn't sleep for eight hours, because I still have to get up every 2 hours to check on her. We've been taking tons of pictures of her, and I want to post them all, but I just don't have time. My mom and sister found this website called snapfish.com. Its very cool because you can upload your pictures to this site and then you can share the photos with your friends and family. All you have to have is their email address. Also, once you share your photos, those people can order copies of your pictures for only 9 cents a print. That's a lot cheaper than walmart or Walgreen's. If you would like to be on my list of people to share photos with, please email me at redsrt@gmail.com and next time I upload pictures I will share them with you. I had planned on doing this post last week after I took a bunch of pictures of Ainsley, but I just didn't get to it. So here is her 7 week old picture. I'll post her 8 week old picture tomorrow. We love and miss you all.

What else can happen this week??

So Ainsley has been in daycare for 2 days and she has already been exposed to the chicken pox. Not exactly what I wanted to hear, but what can you do. Hopefully everything will be ok, because Ainsley didn't interact with the girl that had them, but of course we are still worried. So far she is fine, just pray that she stays that way. I wish that we could afford for me to just stay home with her, but that is definitely not an option. So for now we just have to pray that she will be ok.

Tropical Storm Edouard

Or as Patrick likes to call it, a rainy day with a name. I have to admit I was a little nervous about my first Tropical Storm, but it turned out to be pretty weak. About half of my coworkers didn't show up on Tuesday due to the storm, but really we've had worst thunderstorms. We got some rain, but that was about it. There wasn't even any strong winds. I kinda wanted something interesting to happen, but on the other hand I'm glad that nothing bad happened and that we didn't lose our power again.

Home Sweet Home....

So we were on our way home from New Braunfels on Sunday afternoon, when we ran into a thunderstorm in Montgomery. The wind was blowing really hard and there was a lot of lightning. When we finally got home the storm had passed but we came home to no electricity. This was the 2nd time in one week with no electricity. We went in and I fed Ainsley while Patrick drove around camp to see where the lines had gone down. After he drove around he called to inform me of all the damage. There were trees and limbs down all over camp. Two of which took out power lines and one just happens to be the line to our house. No exactly what you want to come home to when you've been out of town and you have a 6 week old baby. Patrick talked to Tom and he said he had already called the power company and that it would be a least 7pm before they could get to it. It was about 5pm at the time, so we decided to go get some dinner. We ran around and did a few things while we waited for the power to come back on. At about 9:30pm Patrick got word that there was still no power. So we came home got our things and headed down to conference center. It was a mess because we needed to get Ainsley's things together for her first day of daycare. Plus I needed to do some laundry before my first day back to work. Of course I didn't sleep well in those hard beds at the cabin, so I was pretty tired for my first day of work. We dropped Ainsley off and I headed on to work. Patrick was off so he went home to empty our freezers and take our food up to the conference center kitchen. By the afternoon we still didn't have any power so Steve and Laura insisted that we stay with them. By that time we didn't have water either because we are on a well system. So no power means no pump to pump the water. Needless to say I wasn't excited about having to spend another night away from my house and bed. We spent the night at Steve's and at about 12:30am Ainsley woke up. I got up to check on her and I heard something outside. When I looked out I saw 3 electric company trucks. I woke Patrick up and told him and he jumped up and went out there. By the time he got out there they had turned around. He chased them down the street, but done of them saw him. I told him that he needed to call him them and get them to come back. He went to his truck to get something and they had come back, so he took them and showed them where the breaks were. At about 3:30am he got a call saying that everything was back up and running. Finally, we were going to get to go home. Tuesday morning Patrick took all of our things back home and I got to come home to my house Tuesday afternoon. It was really good to be home.

A fun weekend!!

Look, We have a restaurant!!

This past weekend was the last weekend before I started back to work, so Patrick and I decided to go to New Braunfels. His grandparents live there and so we thought it would be fun to take Ainsley there so she could meet her other great grandparents. We also really wanted to go to Schlitterbahn. Patrick made plans for us to stay with his cousins in San Antonio and then they watched Ainsley while we went to Schlitterbahn. It was hard to leave my little girl for the whole day but I knew she was in good hands. Of course we called to check on her a few times just to make me feel better. We had plans to go to dinner with Patrick's grandparents after Schlitterbahn, but is was so late that we ended up just going back to his cousins house and going to dinner there. We went to a restaurant called Houlihan's. I thought that was so cool. It was a much nicer restaurant than I expected it to be. The food was really good. I had to take a picture of the sign so that I could prove that we have a restaurant named after us.

We had a great time with Patricks cousins and also at Schlitterbahn. Hopefully its something we will get to do everyone year.

A sad day..

I got a call this morning from my mom and for some reason before I even answered the phone I had a feeling that something was wrong. I answered the phone and after hearing her voice I knew that I was right. She told me that Sebastain had died. For those of you that have been to my parents house, you will have met my parents little dog Sebastain. I think he was about 9 years old, and he hasn't been in the greatest health for awhile. He has been like my parents little baby ever since we all have grown up and moved out. I know that we all knew that he wouldn't live forever, but its still so sad. It seems like he has been around forever and it will be strange to visit them and not hear his little bark. I know one other puppy dog that will be so sad. Maverick and Sebastain have been long time companions ever since I first got Maverick 4 years ago. I'm sure the next time we go up there Maverick will be looking for him. Its also going to be hard to explain to Brayden. He loved to play with Sebastain and I know he loved the fact that he could pick him up. We're all very sad today, but I know that he is better off, because I think he's been in pain for awhile. He was part of the family and he will be truly missed.

Ainsley's buddies

Here are some pictures of Ainsley and her friends

Ainsley and her dolly

She decided she needed to taste dolly

Just a little nibble on dolly's bangs...yummy

Just Ainsley and her bears

The gangs all here

Just hanging out

She's trying to hide behide her dolly

She's getting a little tired

A very very long night

Saturday night was a very long one for us. I haven't been feeling great and I was having headache and I was dizzy. I'm not one to go to the ER, but it sucks. So if I decide to go, there must really be something wrong. So we loaded up our 4 week old and headed to the hospital. I really really didn't want to take her, because the ER is like the worst place to take a newborn, but we didn't have much choice. We showed up are about 9:30pm. We waited and waited and waited and finally around 2am I got called back. As soon as we went back , the doctor came in the room and said that my blood pressure was really high, 158/90. Thats extremely high for me considering my BP is usually around 110/70. Initially, he thought that I might have something called postpartum hypertension. He said that it usually affects first time moms and they usually have had completely normal BP during their pregnancy. He explained that for some reason after pregnancy the body has trouble reverted to the non-pregnant state and your BP will keep going up until you finally start having sypmtoms. This sounded like a very good explaination to my problems. He said that they were going to run a bunch of other tests to make sure that it wasn't something else first. It started with having an IV started and getting blood taken. The first nurse came in and gave me a bad omen by saying that I was probably going to be s hard stick because of my fair skin. This, of course, is not something that I wanted to hear, but I didn't think too much of it, because I've never had to be stuck more than once. Another nurse came in to start the IV. She tried to start it in my hand which is where I prefer to have it. She tried and MISSED and in the process really brusied up my hand because she kept trying to force it into the vein. She tried again in arm...and missed again. I was getting frustrated. She said that she wasn't going to stick me again and she would get someone else to do it. The first nurse came back in and she tried on the underside of my forearm where you can see a huge vein, and she missed too. By then I was getting really stressed about it and I know that my BP must have been really high by then. I asked if I could go to the bath room so I could take a break for a minute. She asked for me to get a urine sample while I was in there. But I was so flustered by being a pin cushion that I went to the bath room and forgot to use the cup. I went back my room and waited to be stuck again. The called for someone from the lab to come start my IV since they were having so much trouble. This guy was really nice and he took his time and got it on his first try which was good, because I told him he didn't get more than one shot. So after I was full of holes they came and got me for a chest x-ray and CT scan. We then had to wait awhile and finally was needed to pee again so I gave my urine sample. Not too long later, the doctor came back in and said that I had a severe bladder infection and it looked like I had had it for awhile. He said there was lots of bacteria and even some blood. I explained that a few weeks again I had gone to the doctor and they had put me on antibiotics because I thought that I had a UTI. He asked what antibiotic I had taken and said that it wasn't a very strong one. So he wrote me a prescription for a very strong antibiotic ( its the same stuff they use to treat Anthrax). So at 5am we finally made it home. It was a very long night, but hopefully I will get better now.

1 Month check up

So we went to the doctor today for Ainsley's 1 month old check up. She's getting big!! Today she weighed 9lbs 12 0z and measured 22 3/4 inches long. So in the past month she has gained 1lb 6 oz and 2 1/2 inches. She is in the 75% for weight and the 95% for length. The doctor said that she looked good, so I guess we are doing a good job so far :). She got her first shot today :( It made me sad to see her cry like that, but she got over it pretty quickly. I kinda sad that she is getting so big, I'm going to miss her being so small. They really do grow up soo fast. I can't believe she is already a month old. I have to go back to work in 2 weeks and I know its going to be so hard to leave her. I know that she'll be in good hands, but its going to be hard for me to leave her with someone I don't know very well. I haven't left with anyone accept family so far, so I know its going to be hard for me. Tomorrow I am probably going to take her up to my office so that everyone can see her. I guess thats all for now!

First trip to Fort Worth

We've been pretty busy lately, we just got home from a week long visit to Fort Worth. We got to have our first experience with Ainsley in the car for a four hour drive. It actually went pretty well until we got about 20 minutes from my parents house. It was time for her to eat and she woke up crying. I figured it was because she was hungry. Patrick asked me if I wanted him to stop so that we could feed her, but I figured we were only 20 mins from the house, and it was like 100 degrees outside, so it would just be better to wait until we got there. I tried to keep her satisfied with he pacifier, but she kept spitting it out. When we finally got to the house I took her in to get her bottle and feed her. We got in the house and I took her out of her car seat and i discovered why she was crying so much. There was a bit of an explosion that had happened. There was poop everywhere. Her white onesie was no longer white. There was so much poop that it was practically up to her chin. I felt so bad that she had been sitting there like that. I would be screaming too, if I was sitting in poop like that. Patrick was in the process of unloading the car and when he came in, I showed him what the problem was. He said "Umm...do I need to get the tub". I said "I don't know, its just everywhere and I don't know where to start". I couldn't really lay her down because it was going to get all over everything. I managed to get her clothes off and started cleaning her up. Some how she managed to not get the poop on her car seat, which was a good thing because we were about to get back in the car to drive over to Plano to have dinner with Patrick's mom and her friends. Poor Ainsley, was so tired of being in her carseat, I felt bad putting her back in it to drive for another hour and 20 mins. We went to Plano and had a nice dinner with Patrick's mom and then we came back to Fort Worth and went to bed. Friday, my mom wanted me to bring Ainsley up to her office so her co-workers could see her. So, I let Patrick sleep and I got up and took her over there. This was our first adventure out without dad, so it was my first real test. Patrick usually carries her in the carseat cause its so heavy and my back hurts so much. So having to carry that thing was definitely a test. Plus he usually deals with the stroller, so I had to figure out how to work that too. It went well and everyone at my moms office said how beautiful she is. We waited there until my mom got off work at 1pm and then went to lunch. After that we went back to the house and hung out for a little while before everyone came over for Mimaw's birthday dinner. Dinner was great and it was the first time that Keith got to see Ainsley.
On Saturday, me, my mom, Ainsley and Brayden went and had lunch with Peggy, Jamie and Lauren so that they could meet Ainsley. After lunch I went back to the house and picked Patrick up, because I was dropping him and Ainsley off at his parents house while I went to Nikki's bachelorette party. There was a wreck on the way there, so the hour and 20min drive turned into 2 hours and 15 mins and that was just to get to Patrick's parents house. I still had to drive another 45 mins to get to the party. When I finally got there, only and hour and a half late, Nikki opened her presents and then we left for the restaurant in Dallas. We went to Dick's Last Resort, which is a restaurant where the waiters are rude to you. Its actually pretty fun, you just can't take anything personally. Our waitress made us each write down a dare for Nikki to do and then she drew them out of a hat. She had to do things like "kiss a bald mans head", "dance on stage" and various other things that were pretty inappropriate. After dinner, they were going over to Gilley's to dance and stuff. I didn't go, I went back to pick up Patrick and Ainsley,. That was the most amount of time I have spent away from her (5 hours), so I was ready to go see her. I only called to check in 3 times, which I thought was pretty good. When we got home my mom had offered to stay up with Ainsley, so that we could get a full nights sleep. On Sunday, we left Ainsley with my parents and we went out and did some shopping. I bought some regular shorts so that I could stop wearing my maternity shorts, but I will say it was difficult to buy shorts 2 sizes bigger that my old size. Patrick reminded me that I just had a baby 3 weeks ago. It was good for us to go out and do a few things by ourselves, but its also so good to go home and see that sweet little girl. On Monday, we went out to Grandma's so that Grandpa could meet her. I also needed to pick up a lot of my clothes that I left at her house when Patrick and I got married. After that we went out to Target so that I could get my eyes checked. I have been needing new contacts for over 3 months. It's good to be able to see again. Patrick and Ainsley strolled around Target while they waited for me. Monday night we were going over to Jenn and Keith's for dinner because I requested that Keith cook me a steak. I'm not a big steak eater, but Keith makes the best steak. Kevin and Melissa and Fabian also came over. We had dinner and watched the All Star Home run derby. Jenn wanted to play Battle of the Sexes, so we got it out. The girls were out numbered unless you counted Ainsley, but since she couldn't contribute it was a little unfair. The guys proceeded to drink a little too much, but they still kicked our butts. I was shocked because the questions that I thought there was no way that Patrick would get, were the ones that he answered correctly. We had a good time. Keith wasn't really ready to call it a night, but everyone else was.
On Tuesday, we were going to go get the kids pictures taken together. We got up and got ready and met my sister and Boston and Brayden over at the picture place. When we got there they told us that they weren't taking walk-ins because they were short handed. Normally, it wouldn't be that big of a deal, but when you have to get a 3 year old and 2 babies ready it makes it a little annoying. So we scheduled an appt for Wednesday. We decided to go back to the house and just relax for the rest of the day. That evening Sam came over so that she could meet Ainsley. It was really good to see her. We ate dinner and then Patrick and I decided that we wanted to go on a date. So my mom and dad watched Ainsley and we went to Main Event. We had a really good time. We played pool, bowled and played a few arcade games. The bowling might have been a bit much considering I just had a baby 3 weeks ago, but we still had fun. I was just very sore afterward.
On Wednesday, we got up again and got ready for pictures. I had to pick out a different outfit for Ainsley, because when we got home that day before, I realized that the dress I had put on her was too small. I kept trying to pull it down and then I realized that it wouldn't come down because it was too tight on her ribcage. So we went with w different outfit. We got to the picture place and met up with Jenn and the boys. We got started with our pictures pretty quickly, but our photographer wasn't the greatest. She was very impatient and kept getting frustrated. Obviously taking pictures with a 3 year old and 2 babies isn't going to be easy, but it seemed to be to much for her. She kept trying to tickle Ainsley with a monkey to get her to smile. This lady obviously doesn't have any kids, because apparently she didn't realize that 3 week old babies don't smile, unless they are gassy. Ainsley was hungry so it was getting difficult to get her picture with out her crying. I would put her pacifier in her mouth and then take it out right before she took the picture. The pictures of the 3 of them were pretty difficult because the babies were getting upset and Brayden was having trouble getting in the right place. The photographer was getting very frustrated with Brayden because he wasn't following her directions. He was trying really hard, but he just wasn't getting in the spot she wanted him. Finally we were done taking the pictures and we had to look at them and pick out the ones we wanted. Patrick fed Ainsley while Jenn and I picked out pictures. There were actually some pretty good ones even though it was kinda of difficult. The pictures of all three of them weren't the greatest, but they were really as good as could be expected with the ages we have. We finished picking out the pictures and Jenn left with the boys. My dad needed some help, so I took Patrick over to were he was working to help him out. I went back and picked up the pictures because they print them for you right then. Ainsley and I got all the way back to the house when I realized that Patrick had my keys. So we had to go all the way back to where he was to get the keys. When we finally got back to the house Ainsley and I decided to take a nap. My dad and Patrick got home around 5pm so that we could go over to Mimaw and Papaw's to have dinner. My Uncle Robert and Aunt Irene were in town and I really wanted Patrick to meet them because I am always telling him about their house. We had a good visit and went back to the house to get a good night sleep before we had to drive home.
Thursday we got up and started getting everything together. We didn't end up getting everything together and packed in the car until 1pm. Then we went to grandma's to pick up my clothes. After that we went and had lunch with Patrick's mom. Then we still had to go back to my parents house and get Maverick. We finally got on the road about 5pm. This was much much later that I wanted to be getting on the road. After our busy long week, Ainsley was sick of being in her carseat, so she was a little cranky. We stopped in Waco so that Patrick could get some caffeine and to change Ainsley's diaper. We stopped again in College Station to get some dinner at Chicken Express and to feed Ainsley and get her out of her seat for a little bit. We finally made it home about 10pm. Its amazing how much longer it takes when you are traveling with an infant. We had a good trip and we were glad that we got to see everyone in Fort Worth. I'll post some of the pictures soon of Ainsley and her cousins.

Its been a busy two weeks

I haven't really had much time to make any new post, so I finally have a few minutes so I thought I would fill you in on how things have been going. We went back to the doctor on Monday, and Ainsley was back up to her birth weight and then some. She weighed in at 8lbs 8 oz. She's getting big but its hard for me to really notice because I see her everyday. She has been doing very well, and has even been doing pretty good at night. She did give Patrick a hard time last night and he finally resorted to putting her in her car seat and driving her around to get her to go to sleep. She seems to fall asleep better for me. I'm not really sure why, but I know that Patrick gets frustrated that he can't get her to sleep as easily as I do. Don't get me wrong though, she can give me a hard time to, but I think that she does it more to him. Everything is going well and we couldn't be more happy. We are still adjusting to going places with a newborn, but I think that we are doing well. Sometimes I just like to sit and watch her sleep. She's so sweet and peaceful. I still find it so amazing that this little person came from us. She is such a blessing to our lives.
We are planning on heading up to Fort Worth next week. Its been at least 3 months since we have been up there and its definitely the longest period of time I have been away. We are going to visit family and friends so that everyone cam meet our baby girl. I'm not exactly sure what day we will be coming, but it looks like it might be Thursday July 10th and I think we should be able to stay through the beginning of the following week.
I will post more pictures soon. Oh, and by the way, for those of you who have wanted to leave comments, I think I finally fixed it so that you can leave comments now. I would love to hear from you.

More Pictures

Paps and Ainsley

Great Grandma and Ainsley

Ready to go home

Papaw and Ainsley

Mimaw and Ainsley

Sweet baby girl

Aunt Jenn Jenn

Look at my pretty bow

Hospital pictures

They took some pictures at the hospital. To see them go to our365.com, the password is ainsley.

I will post more pictures soon. All the pictures of my parents and family are on someone else's camera so I don't have the pictures yet. I will post them as soon as I get them. Here are a few more pictures.

Cousins!!
Boston checking out his new baby cousin, too cute!!

Daddy and Ainsley napping together

Pictures

Mommy and Ainsley

(A very tired mommy)

Grandpa and Ainsley

Grandma and Grandpa Houlihan

The Happy Family

Her first few moments

She's HERE!!!

Ainsley is HERE!! We are so excited to announce her arrival. She was born Sunday June 22nd at 7:57 am. She weighed in at 8lbs and 6 oz and 20 1/4 inches long. She has a full head of thick dark hair (she definitely didn't get that from me). God has blessed us with a beautiful baby girl and we are thrilled.

WARNING!! This is a very long post.
Friday June 20, 2008

Friday we had a doctors appt to make sure everything was still ok and to talk about our induction that was scheduled for monday. When we went in the doctor checked my cervix and said that I was 3-4cm dilated. She stripped my membranes again to see if she could get something started. She also did an ultrasound to make sure that the fluid level was still ok. She told us that she was on call all weekend so if we came in that she would be there. She also said that if I started having contractions 7 mins or less apart to go ahead and head to the hospital. We went home and Patrick went back to work. I called my mom the let her know what the doctor had said and she decided that she would go ahead and come down that night. I started having some pretty regular contractions at about 10:30. I started timing them and they were about 3-4 mins apart. I told Patrick that we might be going to the hospital so he hurried to get a couple of things done first. My mom, sister and Boston showed up a little after 11pm and I sat and talked to them for a little bit. I decided that we needed to go ahead and go to the hospital so we packed everything in the car and headed up there. When we got there they checked my cervix and said that I was a full 4cm dilated. They wanted me to walk around for an hour to she if I made any change and if my contractions would get stronger. After a very long hour they checked me again said that I was about a 4.5 -5cm. The nurse went to call the doctor to find out if she wanted me to stay or go home. They nurse came back and told us that the doctor was going to send us home. I was beyond mad. I was in pain and now I was going to have to go back home. They nurse gave me some ambien and we went home again. We got home about 3:30 and went to bed. I felt so bad for Patrick because he had to be at work at 7:30. He went to work and a stayed in bed for a while.

Saturday June 21, 2008

Patrick was gone to work and I was resting while my sister and mom were getting ready for the rest of my family to arrive on Sunday. I spent most of the day just taking it easy and trying to relax. My mom and sister went to run some errands. Patrick came home and he started in on a little project that I asked him to do. This little project turned into a big project. We decided that it was getting late so we would just order some pizza for dinner. Patrick and I went to pick up the pizza and then came back and had a very late dinner. It was after 9pm by the time we ate. Everyone was pretty tired so we started getting ready for bed. Patrick and I finally got in bed at around midnight. We were laying in bed and Patrick looked at me and said "we're not going to have a baby tonight, are we?" I had been having some contractions but I didn't think to much about them so I told him "no". About 30-45 mins later, just as I was getting to sleep, I felt a strange sensation. I thought it might be my water breaking but I wasn't totally sure. I moved a little and then I realized that it was my water and it was about to go everywhere. I immediately woke Patrick up to get some towels before I got the bed all wet. We actually did really good and only ended up getting a tiny wet spot on the bed. Patrick was a little disappointed that he wasn't going to get to sleep, but he was excited that we were going to have our baby. He helped me up and we started getting ready to go to the hospital. I went and woke up my mom and told here that "we were going to have a baby". Her immediate response was "what, why". I kinda laughed and said, "my water broke and we are going to the hospital". My mom said that she was going to get up and take a shower and she would be there soon. Patrick put everything in the car again and we headed to the hospital.

Sunday June 22, 2008

On the way to the hospital I started having some pretty strong contractions. I told Patrick to hurry because I was ready for the epidural. We got to the hospital and as we had done so many times before, we went to the desk, but this time we knew that they couldn't send us home. I told them that my water broke, and they asked me to have a seat and that someone would be with me shortly. A few minutes later a nurse came and got us. She asked why we were there and I told her that my water broke. She said "how sure are you that your water broke?" I looked at her and said "I'm positive". She asked if it was a big gush, and I told her yes. She decided that instead of going to a triage room that it would just be easier to do a little test to see if it really had broken. She told me to wait there and she went down the hall to get a little strip of paper that test for amniotic fluid. Basically you just put a little of the fluid on the paper and it turns blue if its amniotic fluid. She sent me in the bath room and a few seconds later I came back with a little Blue piece of paper. She said, "ok, lets go ahead and get you in a room". Finally, we were staying at the hospital and we knew that we were finally going to have our baby girl. We got in a room and they hooked me up to the monitors. By this time, my contractions were getting pretty strong and I was in quite a bit of pain. They told me that I couldn't have an epidural until I had lab work done and i had to go through a entire bag of IV fluids. I was very anxious for some relief so I was ready to get all that done quickly. The nurse checked my cervix and I was at 6 cm. They were definitely rushing around trying to get everything ready. They came and drew my blood and hooked up my IV. They also started me on the very important antibiotics that i needed because I am GBS positive. They also noticed that the fluid had some meconium in it, which basically means that the baby had a bowel movement already. This isn't that uncommon for a baby that it a week over due. There are a few extra precautions that have to be taken when the baby is born to make sure that she doesn't breathe in the meconium. Luckily for me, my interest in medicine has given me the knowledge to know about all these kinds of things so I wasn't too worried about it. I was getting a little concerned that I might progress to fast and then I wouldn't be able to get my epidural. My contractions were getting really really strong and I was in a lot of pain. I was trying my best to breathe through them, but that is really difficult. I was almost finished with my IV fluids so we were waiting on my labs. Finally my labs came back and hen we were just waiting for the Anesthesiologist to finish up with another patient. They asked if I wanted some pain medicine while I was waiting for the epidural. Of course, I said yes and they brought me some Nubain. The nurse said that I would feel it in my head first. She was right. I felt kinda dizzy. It didn't really take away the pain it just made me feel kinda loopy, so I didn't notice the contractions as much. I was worried about trying to be completely still if I had a contraction while I was getting my epidural. Especially since the room was spinning from the Nubain. They sat me up on the side on the bed because they thought the Anesthesiologist was about to walk in, but it still took about another 10 mins. Trying to breathe through the contractions while I was sitting up was pretty difficult. The nurses were telling me that I was doing a good job of breathing through them. Finally the Dr. came in to give me the epidural. The nurses had told my mom and Patrick that they would have to leave while I got the epidural, but the Dr. was really cool and said they could stay. He told me to round my back out as much as i could, but considering the size of my belly that was much easier said than done. He numbed my back and told me that I would feel some pressure and maybe some scraping of the needle on my bones. Apparently he didn't get it the first time and had to try again. I could feel the scraping on my bones which was really strange. I started having a contraction and tried to breathe and hold still. Finally he was done and said that I could relax. I laid back down and in about 15 minutes I was feeling much better. After 3 hours of strong contractions I can't imagine why anyone would want to do that without an epidural. The nurse did my catheter before I was completely numb so that wasn't too fun. The nurse said that she would wait a little while before she checked me again, so then we were just sitting and waiting. Justin and Rachel showed up just a little bit later so we all just talked for a bit. My mom left to go pick up Jenn and Boston. While she was gone the nurse came in and checked me and said that we were at 8 cm. My doctor said that if I was still in labor at 6am that they were going to start me on some pitocin. I called my mom to let her know that we were getting close so she might want to hurry. At 6am, they came in and started the pitocin and then I started to feel that Pressure that everyone talks about. Its not pain, just overwhelming pressure that makes you feel like you need to go to the bathroom really bad. My mom got back with my sister and Boston and I talked to them for a little bit. Then finally it got to the point that the pressure was becoming painful so the nurse came in and checked me again. She said that I was complete so we were going to get ready to push. They called my doctor who was on her way and they started setting the room up for delivery. Everyone, except for Patrick, went down to the waiting room to await Ainsley's arrival. They nurse set everything up and she started having me push. Pushing is actually quite hard when you can't feel anything. I wasn't pushing for very long, when she said "ok, we need to wait or I'm going to delivery this baby". Luckily, moments later, my doctor came in. She started getting ready, putting her gloves on and such, when the nurse told me to go ahead and push. The doctor looked up and said "Stop, or your going to have this baby before I ready to catch". Once she was ready, I pushed once and out came the baby, they whole baby. I never had such an overwhelming sense of relief. Its just immediate. They put her up on my belly for just a second, only long enough for Patrick to cut her cord, and then they took her over to the warmer to suction her lungs. Since there had been some meconium in the fluid that had a neonatal team there to attend to her and make sure she was ok. She was perfect. She had come out screaming and very pink. She also has this crazy thick dark hair. She definitely didn't get that from me. It was so amazing and I know that I could never truly describe how I felt. Its like you a instantly in love. Patrick had stayed with me and I told him to go over and see her. He was still worried about me so he didn't want to leave me. I did have a little tear (2nd degree), so the doctor was sewing me up. After they cleaned her up they brought her back to me so she could try to nurse. I knew that everyone outside was anxious to come in and see her, so after about 45 mins I told them they could come in. Everyone was amazed by her hair. Thats pretty much the whole story. I know it was really long, but I thought that some people might like to know the whole detailed story. There's a few other things that I want to talk about but I will leave that to another post.

An upsetting day...

Well...we went to the Dr. this morning and it didn't go like I was hoping. Tomorrow is my due date, and last week the Dr. said that if I was still pregnant today that I we would schedule a date to induce my labor. I assumed that it would be scheduled for the beginning of next week, but I was wrong. The first thing she said to me was "how does a week from Monday sound?" I looked straight at her and said "Not good". Then I started crying, because I really thought that I was almost done, and as it turns out I have to wait another week. All week long the only thing that was keeping me sane was thinking that no matter what, in less than a week I would not be pregnant anymore. I pleaded with the Dr. so she called the hospital, but they said they were all full for next week. I really felt defeated. She checked me and said that I am now 2 cm dilated and she also stripped my membranes because sometimes that can help stimulate labor. We left there and I was feeling horrible. I guess I don't feel like my doctor really cared that I was so upset. Which really might make me think about switching doctors before we have anymore kids. I know that if I was still in Fort Worth and Dr. Howell was my doctor, that I would not still be pregnant. I'm hoping that I will go into labor on my own, because that seems to be the only way I am going to have this baby before June 23rd. I'm trying to keep my head up and remain positive, but its hard when you feel like crap 100% of the time. I do want to say that I appreciate everyone that has called to check on us, and I also want to apologize if I haven't answered the phone, but right now I just don't feel like talking to anyone, especially about still being pregnant. I just want to think about other things right now, like my birthday that is coming up next week. Please pray for me and the baby, that labor will come soon.

An uneventful weekend

Well...we made it through the weekend and still no baby yet. Saturday night we went back to the hospital because I thought I was leaking fluid again, but it turns out that I wasn't. Even though I felt silly going back to the hospital again, I knew that we had to get it checked out for the safety of the baby. I am Group B Strep positive, which is just a normal bacteria that some women have, but it could cause a serious infection in the baby. So its important for me to be on antibiotics as soon as I go into labor to prevent infection in the baby, that's why I am nervous about my water breaking and not knowing it, because once my water breaks there is no barrier between the baby and the outside world. The nurses told me that sometimes it can be very hard to tell if your water has broken or not, so that made me feel better, and they reassured me that I should definitely come back again if I thought I was leaking, and that I shouldn't feel silly about it. So it was just another practice run, but at least we when have to go for the real thing we will know exactly where to go and what to do. I feel sorry for Patrick, because I have definitely been more than a little cranky lately. I've just been very discouraged about the whole situation. I guess its probably because I know that if she doesn't decide to come before my due date, I have to wait another week before my doctor will induce me. Work has become almost unbearable because of the amount of discomfort I am in not to mention the fact that I can hardly sleep at all. I didn't go to work today, because I didn't sleep at all last night, and when I got out of bed this morning my hips hurt so bad that I couldn't walk normally. Everyone that I know that has had a baby recently has been induced before their due date. So I'm feeling a little bitter knowing that I will have to wait until I'm 41 weeks, before I will be induced. This is why I am trying every possible thing to get my labor started. Saturday when we were at the hospital I was 1 cm dilated and the nurse said she could feel the babies head. So she is right there just waiting to come out and I am more that ready for her to be here. I know that I am making it sound horrible, but to those that have been pregnant before, you understand where I am coming from. I am a pretty independent person, so the fact that Patrick has to help me do almost everything is seriously annoying, not to mention the fact that I can't do most things at work by myself either. I look forward to being able to get out of a chair or put my shoes on by myself almost as much as I'm looking forward to holding our little girl. I'm trying my hardest to be patient, but being uncomfortable constantly is really starting to get old. Especially when I start having contractions, so I get my hopes up, and then the contractions go away. That is really annoying. Tonight we are going for our tour of the hospital, maybe after that, Ainsley will decide that she is ready to come and meet her family. I will say that I am looking forward to my family being here, its been awhile since I have seen them and I'm missing them a lot. Its been about 2 months since I was last in Fort Worth, so it will be great to have everyone here to meet Ainsley.

37 weeks and 4 days...

Well, today we went to the doctor and I was expecting to be a lot more dilated than I was last week. So much for hoping...over the weekend I had been feeling pretty crappy and I really thought that I might go into labor at anytime. So far, I'm still pregnant. I am so exhausted from not sleeping and trying to go to work and do my job, not to mention being so uncomfortable that I don't really want to move. I know that these last weeks would be a lot easier if I didn't have to be at work at 8am everyday. So the doctor said that I was still about half a cm dilated, but I was a little more effaced, about 70%. I've been having lots of contractions but they all seem to fizzle out and never become regular. I know that she will be here soon, but I'm very ready now. It's funny because everyone keeps telling me, "you should get your rest now, because once the baby is here you won't get any sleep". All I have to say to that is "Are you crazy, I'm not getting any sleep now". I would rather have to wake up every 2 hours to feed a crying baby, than not sleep at all because I'm in pain. Maybe that's just my inexperience talking, but all I know is I'm ready for her to be here. My Dr. appt next week isn't until Friday and by then I will be 38 weeks and 6 days, needless to say I hoping that that appt isn't necessary. I'm trying my best to be patient, but those of you that know me well, know that patience is not my strong point. I know that she will come when she is ready, but I'm really hoping that she is ready VERY soon.

That was a little scary...

So yesterday was an interesting day. It started off like a normal Monday morning, but at about 9:30am I was sitting in a meeting at work, when I started to feel very dizzy. The room just started spinning and I felt like I was going to fall out of my chair. It was a very strange feeling and it scared me. I didn't want to make a big scene in the meeting so I just sat there and tried to be okay. After a few seconds the room stopped spinning so much, but I was still feeling dizzy. I knew the meeting was about to be over so I didn't want to say anything to make anyone worried. When the meeting was over I went back to my desk and called Patrick to tell him that I might need him to come and get me. I then told a couple of my co-workers that I wasn't feeling well and that I might need to go home. I called mom to ask her what she thought, and she said to call my Dr. I went ahead and called Patrick back and told him to go ahead and come to pick me up. I called the doctor, but I had to leave a message. I let my boss know that I was going to be leaving because I wasn't feeling well. Patrick had the day off yesterday, so he was out at Lake Conroe fishing. About 15 minutes later he called me back to let me know that it was probably going to take him a little bit longer to come pick me up, because in his rush to come pick me up, he turned the boat around quickly and hit a stump and some part on the boat was broken and it was going to take him longer to get back to the boat ramp. I told him not to panic and that I was OK, I just needed to go home and lay down. He didn't really give me a good idea of how long it was going to take so I assumed it wouldn't be too long. After about 20 more minutes, I called him back to see where he was and he then informed me exactly how far from the boat ramp he really was. After I realized that it was going to be several hours before he could pick me up, I decided to just drive myself home. I wasn't feeling dizzy anymore, just kinda crummy. The nurse from the doctor's office called me back when I got home and told me just to take it easy until I came in for my weekly appointment in the afternoon.

I laid down and rested until Patrick finally got home at about 12:45pm. He felt so bad about what happened and that he wasn't able to be there to pick me up. I assured him that I was okay and that the baby was okay and if something like this happened again for him not to panic. He has told me that he is not going to be going fishing anymore until after the baby gets here. Poor guy, he was so mad at himself.

At 3:30pm we went to the doctor for our weekly appointment. I had an ultrasound and we found out that Ainsley is appox. 6 lbs 9 oz. I was about half a cm dilated and 50% effaced, so I'm hoping that means that I won't have to wait until my due date to have this baby.

36 Weeks and counting...

Well, due to the fact that everyone seems to be blogging these days, I decided that a good way to keep in touch with my friends and family was to start a blog. I'm not really into talking on the phone, especially lately, and so I thought this was good way to let everyone know whats going on with me and my family.

Things down here in Conroe, are going great. Patrick and I are still working on getting the house ready for the baby and also just getting stuff done before we don't have the time to. Last weekend we went shopping for baby stuff with all the giftcards we got from the shower. We ended up getting most of the things that we went for, but the big one was getting our stroller. For Mother's day I asked Patrick to build a new front porch, because we didn't have one before, but also because our little wooden walkway was falling apart. He spent Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning building the perfect little porch. He was so proud of himself, it was really cute. The porch turned out great and we have been enjoying it all week.

This weekend we don't have any big plans, I'm just trying to recover from the work week. Being 36 weeks pregnant makes working completely exhausting. I know all you moms out there who worked through your pregnancy can understand what I mean. Just moving around has become difficult and uncomfortable, but I know its not too much longer. We are getting so excited and a little nervous about being first time parents. On Monday we have a Dr. Appt and an ultrasound to see how big little Ainsley is. I'm hoping that she might be a little bigger than normal so that my Dr. will induce me before my due date, but my Dr. doesn't think that she is going to be above average. If I don't go into labor before my due date, my Dr. said that she won't induce me until a week after my due date, because she think that its important for the body to have a chance to do it on its own. Even though I hope that its sooner, I do hope that I make it until June 5th. That is Jenn's last day of school and I definitely want my big sister to be here. I didn't get to be there when Boston was born because I had to work, and I was pretty sad about it. Right now everything is going smoothly, and we are just waiting for the big day. Ainsley's room is finally ready and organized and it just waiting for her to get here. We want to send a big thank you to my mom and Mimaw for helping us with Ainsley's room. We love it.