Heidi Madelyn

Heidi is growing and changing so much these days. I can hardly keep up. At her 1 year check-up she was 21.13 pounds and 31 inches. She is technically a little above average, but she seems so, so tiny. I don't know if it's because she has such a petite frame or because Zoe was so much bigger at that age orrrr because she is so bow-legged. Yes, I know all babies are a little bow-legged, but they usually grow out of it by now. Not Heidi, she is very noticeably bow-legged and if you have ever seen Cody, then you know where she got it from. I'm just praying she grows out of it at least a little bit:)!

Her vocabulary is expanding daily now too. Her newest phrase is "heeeey precious" and it really is precious to hear because her voice gets really high pitched during "hey" and she says precious really fast. I'm hoping to capture it on video, but she would rather play with the camera than be in front of it, so that's getting harder and harder. She does love to entertain though and will do anything for a laugh. Zoe can make her laugh better than anyone. Sometimes I can't even figure out what she could possibly be laughing at.... I guess Zoe is just naturally funny to her. She adores Zoe. She is constantly just walking up to her and hugging or kissing her. And whatever Zoe does, she has to do to. I am so glad that they are so close, and I love watching the two of them grow and play together everyday. Some of the other things Heidi can say:

Heideee
momeee
datteee
hey doe - hey Zoe
dottie - doggy
pop pop
mimi
nanna
baboo - drink (not sure how she came up with that one. it can also mean other things too)
dady - baby
me
ni-night
ahht - hot

aaaapu - apple

ep - help

nah nah - no no

nana - banana

hey bwirdie - hey birdie

heeey boogie

She has only said Zoe 2 or 3 times and she hasn't been able to get Caleigh down. I guess that is a little bit harder. She is so funny with Caleigh. She will just sit and look at her with admiration. She doesn't try to play with her like she does Zoe or like Zoe does with Caleigh, but she loves for Caleigh to hold her and take care of her. I guess she thinks of Caleigh as a little mama or something. All of my girls are just so sweet together and I am so very, very blessed.

On the down side, Heidi has recently decided she doesn't want to sleep in her bed. I can't figure this one out. She has always slept in her crib. She went straight from the hospital to her crib in her room and has always loved it. When I would lay her down at night she would just roll over and cuddle her lovie and go right to sleep. Of course, there were nights when she would fuss a little, but it would only be for a few minutes ( with the exception of the nights when she was teething. those were a little harder). For the past few weeks, she would go down fine but then wake up in the middle of the night and absolutely would not go back to sleep. So, we would go in the living room and lay on a boppy and watch sportscenter. Some nights she would just go right back to sleep and others it would take longer, then I would just put her back in the crib. Well, for the past week or so, she has started to get hysterical when we would start heading to her room and would cry for the longest after I layed her down. The past 2 nights I had to rock her to sleep, which I haven't done since she was a little baby. This happens at nap time too. I just can't figure it out. I thought maybe there was a scary shadow in her room so I removed all the animals from the shelves, but that didn't help. I wish I could fix it... I hate for her to be so upset. I just pray that God will calm her little soul so she can sleep soundly again (and me too).

It's been a while

I haven't been that interested in the blog lately,or in other words I have been way too tired... but I'm coming back. More to come soon!

One Year Ago Today...

Today is Heidi's 1st birthday. I cannot believe how fast this day has arrived. This is how my day went last year...

It was the very first day of school, 4th grade, for Caleigh. Zoe Anna and I dropped Caleigh off at school and headed home to just hang out for the day. No big plans. In fact, I wanted to take it easy because I had worked really late the night before. We had just installed a new kitchen floor and I had been putting all the little things back into the kitchen ( because I AM OCD and everything had to be perfect ASAP). For the past week or so I had been telling everyone that I was ready for the baby to come but I had to have my kitchen done and Caleigh's first day at school over with. OK, back to my day. When I hopped out of the car after dropping Caleigh off, I felt "strange". This being my 3rd baby and my 2nd in the past year in a half, I felt pretty certain of what was going on. It was Thursday and my next appointment wasn't until Monday so I called the Doc and pretty much demanded to come in. I dropped Zoe Anna off at Mimi Vicki's and felt pretty sure I wouldn't be coming back for her until a couple of days later.

I believe I waited at the Dr.'s office forever. Finally, she comes in and checks me out and lets me know that it definately would NOT be today. "Come in on Monday, and we'll go from there. Enjoy your weekend". I'm not discouraged though, I Know I will be back later. Maybe not today, but definately before Monday. I had made up my mind at this point and it was going to happen one way or another.

I pick up Zoe and we go about our day. Actually, we had a really great day just hanging out together, not really doing anything in particular. Around 1'ish I started dragging. I knew the feeling. By the time I picked Caleigh up at 2:50, the contractions were coming pretty regular but not painful. At 4pm I called my friend Sam at work and asked if she would come over "just in case". She was leaving for Gatlinburg that night so she stayed with me for about an hour and by that time Cody was home. I called the Dr. and she still didn't think it was anything, but if I felt worse in an hour to come on in and they would check me. Come on lady! It's not that hard to figure out whats going on. By the time we dropped Caleigh and Zoe Anna off at Mimi Vicki's I could barely stand up, the contractions were coming so hard and so fast. I'm thinking " oh God, please let me make it to the hospital!!".

We make it there and I get the nurse from hell!! Seriously, she was horrible. First of all, she comes in and tells me that my Dr. doesn't think I am really in labor and that she wouldn't be coming by and NOT to give an epidural. Then she says, "I'm afraid you aren't going to get the epidural in time". Well, I start to cry. After having a 10lb 2oz baby with 2 epidurals and still being in excruciating pain, the thought of doing that without any pain medication was more than I could handle. By the way, nurse Betty is completely oblivious to the fact that I am upset. So she starts my IV, but she is putting it in my arm instead of my hand. I'm still upset, so I don't think to ask why she is doing it that way. She then screws up and we have to change my sheets because they are soaked in blood. I think on the 3rd try she gets it right, but it's extremely painful.

A little while later, I am excited to find out that I am in fact going to get my epidural. He arrives soon there after and while preparing me he starts an argument with nurse Betty. This goes on for forever. I am not a very patient person in normal circumstances so you can just imagine how I felt right then. I think I finally tell them to just get on with it and to drop the fight. My mom and Cody were very surprised that I didn't cuss them both out and make them feel about an inch high.

I am good now. She is sooo close at this point, but just not quite there. No matter what I do, she just will not budge. So, nurse Betty tries to help things out and she is successful. In fact, so successful that the baby is coming immediately! I am freaking out because the Dr. hasn't arrived yet. Nurse Betty tells me to hold her in. What!? Hold her in?! How do you hold a baby in??? Apparently, it is done by panting like a dog, according to nurse Betty. In the next minute, my Doc arrives and she is here. I'm pretty sure I sat up and said, "That was it?". Again, after having a 10 pounder a mere 7lbs 14oz was a breeze. So, Heidi Madelyn arrived at 10:15 that Thursday night... I knew I was right!!

We are still here... we have just been thoroughly enjoying our summer. We've been a little busy and a little lazy and it has been absolutely perfect. I have been trying to soak up every bit of my precious little girls that I possibly can since I might possibly be going back to work. We will just have to wait and see. I will post more later, but I will leave you with this for now... it has been on my mind today for some reason

Trust in the LORD with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways acknowledge Him,

and He will make your path's straight.

Proverbs 3:5-6

One sick little girl

I rushed her to the doctor this morning, but apparently she just had a finger stuck up her nose!! Seriously though, she woke up @ 5:30 this morning with a high fever and was really restless so I took her to the doc. We had to go to a strange dr. since ours was out of town and I will NEVER go there again... no matter what!! First of all, the light in the restroom didn't turn all the way on. It just flickered like something out of a horror movie. Try holding a 2 year old on the potty and a 9 month old in the other arm w/out any light... lots of fun. Anyway, on our way back to the exam room, I passed the wonderful dr. B.S.'ing with a pharmaceutical rep. No big deal... unless it goes on for more than an hour while you are sitting there waiting with 2 very restless, tired, sick, bored children. So, I did what any mom would do... I cracked the door open and told the kids to live it up - scream, hoot, holler, whatever makes you happy! Worked like a charm. The dr. barely even checked them out (I had Heidi ck'd too, just to be safe) and determined that Zoe Anna has an ear infection. I don't know if she really does or not, but at least we have antibiotics so maybe that will take care of whatever she does have. Hopefully tomorrow will be a much better day!!

Heidi absolutely loves to eat. I have yet to find ANYTHING that she doesn't like. And even if she is soo stuffed she looks like a bowling ball if someone has food in front of her she will start squealing for it. Yesterday morning Zoe Anna wanted some dry froot loops. I let her have them in the living room then I went to do something in the kitchen. When I came back in this is what I saw. Heidi was so proud that she got those froot loops. Heidi especially loooves to take something of Zoe's. Her fave game is to take Zoe Anna's bwankely (blanket) and paci.

Yesterday I took Caleigh to get her ears pierced again. She had them done on her birthday in November but they were horribly uneven so she let them grow up. She said it wasn't that bad, but it took her this long to build up the courage to do it again. They turned out great this time. I wish I had taken a pic but I forgot my camera. However, I do have pics of Zoe Anna in her new earrings. FYI - they're clip-ons. She had an absolute fit over Caleigh's and wanted to get hers done. I just can't do that though. Nothing against you moms who do get your childs ears pierced at a very young age, I am just not able to do it. There was a 3 month old baby about to get hers done after Caleigh so I had to leave. I just couldn't bear to watch. So, sorry Zoe and Heidi, you will both have to wait!

We have been anxiously awaiting the opening of the "new and improved" park here in Decatur. This park is supposed to be for ALL kids which is wonderful. I couldn't wait to have a park that really catered to my 9 month old and my 2 year old. We have a couple of parks that we frequent, but I don't like the fact that the swings are so far away from the rest of the playground equipment...since swinging is really the only thing a 9 month old can do at the park. I couldn't wait to go to the new park because it would be enclosed and everything is right there together.......everything that is except the baby swings. We finally made it there today and there was not one single baby swing. I could not believe it!! I did not come prepared with a carrier,sling or single stroller ( I wasn't breaking out the limo stroller), so I had to hold Heidi the entire time. After an hour of this I was absolutely exhausted and miserable. Needless to say, I'm disappointed. Zoe had a good time though!!

Graduation Day

Saturday my little brother Hunter and his girlfriend Ashton graduated from Cumberland School of Law at Samford. The whole fam. (minus Cody, he was in a tournament) went to B'ham for the event. After the ceremony my other brother Sean took everyone out to eat at Ruth's Chris. Everyone had a wonderful time and it was so good to get to see everyone. Here are some pics from the day... sorry Dad, I don't know why I don't have any of you. We are all so very proud of Hunter ( and Ashton)... Congrats!!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

What we've been up to

We have done so much lately so I will just try to give the short but sweet version. (1) I took Zoe and Heidi to their first story-time at the library - it went much better than expected and we will definately continue. (2) Zoe had her first trip to the dentist - not as well as I expected considering she is OBSESSED with brushing her teeth, there was a kid screaming in the chair next to hers when we went back so that pretty much set the tone. (3) Caleigh had Field Day at school - my friend Jen and I decided to walk with 4 kids, I don't think we will do that next year... Caleigh hated it because everything has been changed and it really didn't look like much fun to me either.(4) We all took a quick trip to the beach - it was wonderful and no there aren't any "beach" pics because I erased them (please don't comment) but there are some cute pics from the hot tub which is where the kids stayed because the pool was too cold. (5) I am signing Zoe up for school in the fall - we are BOTH super excited about this!! (6) Poor Heidi still does not have 1 single tooth, but she can and will eat absolutely anything. (7) Caleigh was supposed to go to Nashville with show choir but it was cancelled due to Swine Flu. (8) Heidi spent the night away from me for the 1st time ever - we both survived! Oh, this is the big one... (9) I went out!! as in out with my friend Samantha without kids or a husband, just girls out on the town!!

I think that pretty much covers it. I feel like I am forgetting a million things and I am really sorry for my pitiful writing skills but nap time is almost over and I just wanted to get all of this down quick. Oh... one last thing, Hunter graduates from Law school Saturday so we will all be heading to B'ham for that and I promise I will try to remember to take pics.

God Bless!!